Of Time and Space
by Dragon eye21
Summary: Something strange happened when Harry received his first Hogwarts letter and he is no longer the controllable little boy he would have been. Can he turn his advantage into a definitive end of the war with Voldemort and change the wizarding world for the better?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

It was dark. It was always dark for some reason. _Why does it always start with darkness?_ A thought drifted through his brain with a disgusting amount of bitterness and pain. _Because darkness came before all. _A thought drifted back in a voice that was not his own. The thought confused him for it was not the kind of thought he would have had; ever. His thoughts tended to lean towards bitter resentment and vengeful anger. It had been a long, long time since he had even the remotest of wise thoughts. That was how he knew the thought did not belong to him. Or maybe it did belong to him, just that part of him that had died so very long ago, long before he had even received his Hogwarts letter.

_Why do you fight this?_ The voice questioned into the silence that followed its previous statement.

_Fight what? _He asked, confusion thick in his voice.

_Your choice. _The voice responded, as if it should have been obvious.

_What choice? _He asked, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice. _I don't even know where I am._

The voice seemed to sigh in a fed up manner before falling silent, leaving him to drift through the dark alone. Alone, save for his bitter thoughts and plans for a revenge he would never have.

–Scene Break–

Harry James Potter snapped his eyes open at the sound of his Aunt Petunia hollering his name and demanding him to go and fix breakfast. He stared at the ceiling for one brief moment, contemplating the oddity of the dream he had just had, one where he had been floating through nothing but darkness with a strange voice that asked even stranger questions. Not wanting to risk his aunt's ire, Harry shook his head out of his thoughts and quickly bustled his way out of his cupboard. Petunia barely acknowledged his presence as he swiftly stepped into the kitchen and started pulling out the pots and pans necessary to cook breakfast.

Acknowledging her instructions on what to cook that morning with a polite 'yes aunt Petunia', Harry went about cooking, mostly on autopilot. He had a weird feeling creeping up on him and he had no idea what it was or could be. It was like a chill that was slowly racing its way up and down his spine several times but at the same time it was nothing like that. His scalp prickled uncomfortably; though he refused to allow it to show in either his actions, in-actions, or otherwise outwardly reveal that anything was out of the ordinary in the Dursley household... well, out of the ordinary of what he considered his regular life.

Far be from what people thought of him, Harry was far from stupid, in either academics or real life. He knew the way the Dursleys treated him was not the way normal families treated their children. He knew it was abuse to say the least, having read the term in a dictionary in the library at primary school during recess. Not fully understanding the dictionary definition, Harry had gone to one of the few school computers that the school had and looked up instances of abuse. What he had found described his home life almost to perfection. When it had finally settled in that he was being abused, Harry had contemplated going to a teacher or someone to report his abuse but he knew that doing so would incur an inquiry, which meant someone would be talking to his Aunt and Uncle. Since there was no real proof of his abuse, Harry wanted nothing of the sort, knowing that he would likely receive one of the worst beatings of his life, likely several of them.

"Get the mail boy!" Uncle Vernon snapped just as Harry was setting the pots and pans in the sink after laying out all the plates full of food on the table for Vernon, Dudley, and Petunia. None for him. He barely managed to pick at the food he was cooking so he would have something to get through the day.

"Yes uncle Vernon," Harry said obediently as he finished setting the pots down and left the kitchen. Harry calmly marched over to the door, ignoring the strange sensations creeping up and down his spine as it grew worse, and picked up the mail. He started flipping through the mail, for what reason he had no idea since he never had any mail, as he turned and started back towards the kitchen. His heart practically stopped dead when he came to a letter that had his name written on it in neat black ink, oddly listing his bedroom as part of his address.

Still functioning on autopilot, Harry continued into the kitchen, now completely blind to the odd feeling he was having, handed Vernon the mail aside from his letter, and moved off to the side around the table. His attention focused on the letter in his hand, Harry did not notice the watchful eyes of his cousin, nor the ever growing sensation running throughout his body. He slipped his disbelieving finger beneath the wax seal and was seconds away from opening it before it was ripped from his grasp. He would have fought, would have protested, would have turned to face his so called family while simultaneously preparing for a beating. Harry would have done all of this if it had not been for the shocking, staggering, and overwhelming sense of déjà vu that had slammed into the forefront of his brain.

It was not any sort of normal déjà vu. Not the kind of vague sense that he had seen something similar to this situation before, the kind that one could barely recall, like a dream of a dream of a situation. This was a clear recollection of this exact situation that slammed into his brain. Harry clearly recalled being in this exact spot, at this exact moment, in this exact house, in this exact kitchen, surrounded by these exact people, all gawking at that exact same letter. It was too eerie for words, too strange of a thing for his thoughts to comprehend.

Then, in the space of one, single, solitary beat of his heart, his brain did something even stranger than the déjà vu. The best way he could have described it, which was still a very poor way in his mind, was that his brain had _shifted_. Like it had woken up briefly and shifted positions before lying still once more. Within the span of a secondary heartbeat, a rush of images, sounds, smells, thoughts, expressions, and sensations flared into his mind. They all went by inexorably fast, too fast for him to try and witness it all. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, he did not have to try to process everything that moved through his mind. He already knew what they were. _Memories_. They were the memories of the life he lived before... before... what? He could not remember that part.

The memory hit him like a sack of rocks to the head. He had lived to be over a hundred and fifty, almost a hundred and sixty years old. The war with Voldemort had not gone as planned, well not planned parse but certainly not the way anyone had expected on either side. Voldemort had returned and expected to be able to immediately conquer everything and anything he desired while Dumbledore had this insane notion that Harry, as no more than a teenager, would defeat the madman in a matter of months, a year tops, and save the entire wizarding world. That had not happened. Dumbledore had died just before the end of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts and Harry had been forced to go on the run with his two best friends... or what he thought to be his two best friends but turned out to be one best friend and one traitorous pest he would sooner see dead at his feet than speak to again. Harry had then spent the next century and a half doing everything within his power to take down the Dark Lord before he finally fell to a cutting curse that managed to nick his carotid. He bled out in seconds. Next thing he knew, he was standing here, back in this blasted kitchen that he so loathed.

"Boy!" came a familiar bark from a familiar voice that Harry had thoroughly suppressed from his mind decades, to him, ago. Slowly, almost as if his neck were made of stone, Harry turned and raised his head towards his uncle, revealing cheeks stained with blood as he bled from the eyes at the sudden and painful influx of information that had suddenly taken up residence in his brain. Harry glared a glare that had more than once sent Severus Snape running from the room (walking really but for Snape, it was running) and the Dursleys all paled, though Petunia curled her nose at the sight of the blood on his face.

"Mine," Harry practically growled out as he stretched out a hand. The letter came flying back into his palm, resting quaintly there, as if it had never been ripped away. Harry was beyond unhappy. He had no idea how or why he had ended up way back here in the past in his eleven year old body. The last thing he could clearly remember was grasping at his neck and fighting for air and to stay conscious.

"How dare you!" Vernon started to bellow. He didn't speak again.

The table in the middle of the room snapped into several pieces. A leg rose up and rendered the fat tub of lard unconscious before he could say more than those three words that Harry would not stand to hear directed at him from the mouth of man he had come to loath more than Voldemort or at least as much. Petunia screech but it was cut off but a well-placed stunner that came flying from Harry's right hand. He did not bother to cast a spell at Dudley. The boy had fainted seconds after his father fell. He did, however, cast a spell over the entire scene to keep everyone in the room unconscious until he returned. There were things that needed tending to, things only he could tend.

After a quick trip to the bathroom to ensure his appearance was up to his standards, as much as they could be at the moment anyways, and promptly trashing his glasses and fixing his eyesight with a simple spell, Harry vanished with a slight pop. Moments later he reappeared at the entrance to Diagon Alley. Not missing a single beat, Harry strode from the Apparition point and marched down the winding path towards Gringotts. He glared death at anyone who dared to look at him too closely, causing several shoppers and shop keeps scattering out of his path. Harry was still processing the fact that he was somehow back in 1991, the year he went to Hogwarts for the first time, but one thing that had almost always stayed constant throughout his life was the fame. He detested his fame and had master the art of glaring in his mid-twenties when some fool witches and wizards had attempted to crowd him in an attempt to simply be near him. So he was eleven again? The glares worked just as well.

"_I need to speak with you._" Harry said in the harsh rasping language of the goblins when he had strode through the bank doors and up to a very specific goblin. Not giving the goblin any time to think or respond, something he had counted on by speaking the creatures native tongue, which he had finally mastered after his fiftieth birthday. "_My name is Harry Potter. I understand that I might be coming off as rude or abrasive and I apologize but time is very short for me and I must act before my movements have been noted by certain people. I need to get into two of my vaults and have Albus Dumbledore stripped of his access to the Potter vaults as he has been unlawfully stealing money from me._"

"You are a very strange little wizard," the goblin, Morick by name if Harry recalled correctly. He stared down at Harry with a strange look on his face. Unfazed, Harry gazed back, a scowl permanently lodged between his eyeballs. "What, pray tell, makes you think we would comply with your demands?"

"_Because if you don't, the entire wizarding world will know that the goblins have secreted away a hoard of treasure that they gained from several vaults over the centuries,_" Harry said, going straight for the jugular as was his instinct from both battle and verbal warfare with several witches and wizards that thought to contradict him simply because they were younger and thought they knew better than he, or vice versa. He smirked when he saw the goblin's jaw hit the floor and eyes bulge out of his sockets.

"Wh-which... vaults did you say?" Morick stammered in a shocked whisper. He obviously could not believe that Harry, a seemingly eleven year old boy wizard had discovered the goblins greatest secret. Harry had not known that the goblins were doing what they were doing until the bank had been leveled in a raid and the massive hoard had been discovered in the after math a mere two months before Harry had died, or thought he died. He still had not figured that part out yet.

"My trust fund vault so I may get galleons for my shopping and the Lestrange family vault." Harry said, switching to English so his throat did not burst from the harsh rasping language he had been speaking in. "By right, by blood, and by magic, the Lestrange vault belongs to me as there is no living line that can claim it that is not incarcerated." he continued before the goblin could challenge him on his right to access a vault that did not have the Potter name stamped all over it.

"We will have to verify that." Morick said, a slight nervous hitch to his voice as he shifted in his seat.

"As you wish," Harry said, signaling for the goblin to do what was necessary. Morick got up and started to walk off, only to be stopped by Harry speaking up once more. "And Morick. I do expect any... items that might have been removed from any of my vaults over the years to be returned post haste. That includes all vaults that fall under the Potter name."

Morick shifted nervously and audibly gulped before giving a slight bow and quickly walking off to confer with a different goblin. Harry sighed and leaned against the counter he had been standing in front of. He did not think that he could have intimidated the goblin if he had not had that particular little piece of information; indeed, he was surprised that he had managed to get the goblin so entirely off his game. Even before he had ended up... here, the goblin race did little more than acknowledge the fact that he was a very powerful wizard that was fighting to free them all from the tyranny that was Lord Voldemort. Now the creatures, or rather just the one, seemed to actually fear him.

Harry sighed and rubbed at his temples, trying to ease the tension behind his eyes a little. He had a splitting headache (he could only imagine why!) and it was only getting worse the longer he functioned on this level of stress and awareness. But he could not stop to relax. He had no idea what was going on and how it affected the world around him. He wanted to nip several things in the butt as quickly as possible so he could take the time to relax and figure some things out. Namely, whether or not the Ministry was registering his use of magic, though judging by the way Aurors were not flooding the bank trying to apprehend him, Harry assumed that they weren't. Or couldn't. He wasn't sure at the moment.

Morick returned a few moments later with two keys in his hand and nervously gestured for Harry to follow him towards the carts, which did very little in the way of alleviating the pounding in his head. Their first stop had been his trust fund vault, as it was the closest to the surface. Harry tore off a strip of cloth from his shirt and transfigured it into a pouch with a wave of his hand, discretely of course, and started filling it with galleons. When he had enough for everything he needed, Harry moved a little deeper into the vault to a hidden section. He slid aside part of the stone wall and retrieved two thick scrolls, shrunk them down, and placed them into his pocket. His time at the Lestrange vault took far less time than his trip to his trust vault. He simply walked in, grabbed Helga's cup, and walked right back out again, wrapping the damnable thing up in his tattered jacket just so he did not have to have skin contact with the wretched thing any longer than necessary.

When the cart deposited them back on the surface and the goblin assured him that his demands would be met, Harry walked over to a different goblin and exchanged enough galleons to have six hundred pounds of muggle money. Satisfied with his business at the bank, Harry walked from the bank with nary a backward glance, the cup secure in his firm grasp. Harry marched down the street, which had grown slightly more crowded during his time in the bank, and straight into Ollivander's shop. To avoid suspicion with the dotty old man, Harry allowed him to go through most of his stock like before until he thought of the holly and phoenix feather wand. Not allowing the man to go off on a tangent about Voldemort and his supposed greatness, Harry doled out the money and quickly left the shop and then the alley all together.

Deciding to do his shopping at a later date and time, Harry vanished with a small pop in a darkened alley way and returned to the Dursley's. When he did not appear into mass chaos of Aurors and other Ministry officials and that the muggles were still unconscious the way he had left them, Harry went into the living room and sat down on the floor with his back to the couch and just breathed. He took several long moments of just breathing and trying to calm down. With his heart rate at a more sedate pace and his rampant thoughts were under control once again, Harry closed his eyes and delved into his mind, entering a deep meditative state.

The first thing he did was assess his Occlumency shields. He had finally learned the art well into his thirties. He frowned when he saw that they were torn and tattered, almost to the point of nonexistence. Harry assumed that the transfer and melding of his eleven year old self and his one hundred and sixty year old self had taken its toll on both his mind and his shields. With a heavy sigh, Harry set about coaxing what was left of his old shields together and into a cohesive whole, however small they may be. He then went about building more, newer shields that were thick and strong and melded with the little remains from his old ones.

When his mind was well and truly guarded by several layers of thick steel walls, Harry retreated from his outer walls and back into his mental landscape. His landscape, the one he had before all this happened, was a replica of Hogwarts but with his own little twist. On the whole, it looked mostly like Hogwarts did but there were more towers and the dungeons were by far, way more complex than they were in reality. The moving staircase that led to the multiple floors of the castle were more numerous and moved far more often, though they were under Harry's complete control. Another difference was that when someone attempted to read his mind, instead of appearing in the entrance hall they appeared outside the gates and when they crossed the gates they were instantly transported to the dungeons, where they would have to find their way out in order to actually gain access to his memories. Of course, this was all assuming they got past Harry's shields.

After Harry had gone over his mind, making sure everything was in order and there was no permanent or sever damage, and had repaired what little damage that had occurred during the transfer, Harry left the halls of his mental Hogwarts and made his way down to the gate. Beyond the golden gates was nothing but darkness but that did not deter Harry. He summoned a mental rope that was tied securely to his waist and the bars of the gates. When he was sure he was secure, Harry stepped beyond the gate and entered the darkness.

The darkness was not actual darkness or empty space. It was his own little twist to his Occlumency shields. A last resort if you will. Anyone who got past his outer shields would be forced to traverse the pitch darkness of the shadows that guarded his mind, wandering aimlessly among the darkness with no way to tell direction or where they might or might not be. It truly was a wonderful little twist on the mental art and had not been invented until Harry was well past old and had neared 120. Quite ingenious really and Harry had commended the man who had made the discovery greatly.

Harry floated in the shadows briefly, as if he were an astronaut in space, before he asserted a small amount of will and allowed a bit of direction to appear in the dark void. He turned towards his mental landscape, a simple white dot with golden gates around it that led to the grounds of Hogwarts. He lengthened his rope some more and summoned up a wind that pushed him off to the side. When he saw nothing there, he pushed towards the other side of his mind. There he found what he was looking for. The chaotic mess that was the eleven year old Harry Potter of his past that he had come to inhabit. There was no actual consciousness to that mind anymore, his consciousness having enveloped the younger and weaker awareness, but the actual mind did remain and was trying to fight for dominance, though it was far too weak and disorganized to win.

His heart wrenched slightly at the thought of what his younger self must have gone through before it had been over thrown by his stronger and older self, Harry moved closer to the disorganized mind and touched the outer edges, whispering a few words that only he could make sense of in that specific order, even at such a young age. The mind calmed and allowed Harry to do with it as he will. Harry smiled and put one hand on the edge of the younger mind and the other on his mind. He frowned as he focused as hard as he dared, trying not to pull anything. The chaotic younger mind did not resist and slowly melted away, becoming the Room of Requirement in Harry's mind scape of Hogwarts. The splitting headache that had been plaguing Harry for the past hour or two vanished, leaving Harry to float in pain free bliss. His two minds had become one and with a sigh, Harry returned to the world of reality.

Harry slowly opened his eyes to the Dursley's living room and allowed his eyes to adjust. The first thing he noted was that the sun was setting, meaning he had been sitting there for at least six hours. His stomach confirmed this calculation when it growled loudly in protest to its empty state. Standing up, stretching and popping a few joints as he did so, Harry went into the kitchen, which was still in the same condition he had left it that morning. With a flick of his wand, the table was repaired and the mess from the food that had been on it vanished, the plates and other ware repaired and returned to their cabinets. Another flick of his wand had the three people in the room stirring from unconsciousness.

"Good evening," Harry said in a sickly sweet voice that sent chills up and down the spines of everyone in the room. Under the table his wand moved in complex patterns, weaving a compulsion spell over all three of the muggles. "Tea and a healthy dinner." He said, directing his focus to Petunia, who flinched briefly before doing as ordered. "Go and clean out both of your rooms." He ordered Dudley, who scrambled out of the room. "If I were you Vernon, I'd go clean out the shed. It's your new room." Vernon stared at him in denial, trying to fight Harry's spell with pure will power alone, but failed in the end and went out back.

"Your tea sir," Petunia whimpered as she set the tea down with shaking hands in front of Harry. "Dinner will be ready soon."

Harry waved her off as he took a sip of the tea, sighing as his empty stomach settled and no longer pained him. It wasn't much, but it would be enough until dinner was finished and promptly inhaled. He listened and watched in amusement as Dudley lumbered up and down the stairs with all of his possessions, transferring them all to the garage or garbage. Outside, Vernon had almost completely emptied the shed of all the gardening equipment and was now doing what he could to clean up the dirt, cobwebs, and grime that covered all of the interior. Harry smirked. He would have stuffed the bastard in the cupboard under the stairs if he thought he could fit the oversized whale in the tiny space. Well... he supposed he could with a little magical contortion but he was not that cruel. Besides, if his use of magic was ever discovered, which he doubted, then he wanted the charges to be as minimal as possible.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a shaking plate being set in front of him loaded with sweet potatoes, green beans, and a good slice of pork that had been cooked to perfection. A salad was placed next to his plate filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, green onions, small pieces of uncooked broccoli, carrots, and croutons. A bottle of dressing was set to the side in case he wanted some. A glass of water was placed on the other side of his plate, in easy reach of his right hand.

"You may eat when I have finished." Harry said as he picked up the silverware, slipping his wand into his pocket. "Until then, go help your son."

Petunia bowed nervously before rushing from the room. Harry smiled as he started devouring the meal. He would not be staying at the Dursley's for long but that did not mean he would not enjoy his stay, nor did it mean he would not get a little payback for everything they had done to him over the years. He had been unable to in his previous time through, being too distracted by the war and fumbling his way through life, but he would have his revenge now. Harry scowled slightly as this brought up the thoughts of how no one had dared to help him, in either the muggle or magical world, but he quickly brushed aside the thoughts and enjoyed the meal.

When he was finished with the meal and his stomach was suitably satisfied, Harry got up from the table and went upstairs. He sent Petunia and Dudley running with a flick of his wrist and promptly banished what was left that they had not managed to move in the time it took him to finish his meal. Harry brought up his wand and started transforming the end of the hall that had the bathroom and Dudley's former rooms, making it all one large suit with the door sealing off the entire section of the house, leaving only the master bedroom (though it could hardly be called such now) available directly across from the stairs. Harry did not care that he had sealed off the only bathroom in the house. They could go in the bushes out back and shower with the hose as he had been forced to do numerous times before.

After properly furnishing the room, Harry stood in the middle of it all and turned his gaze towards the ceiling. He relaxed his eyeballs and allowed his sight to slip from regular vision into the magical vision he had discovered he possessed sometime after his hundredth birthday. It allowed him to see magic. Not just the pulsing energy of magic but the structure of spells, wards, and wild magic. It had been a talent that had come in more than handy on numerous occasions and allowed him to not only infiltrate enemy encampments undetected, but to create several handy spells unique to him.

Harry studied the simple wards that surrounded the property, tied to his mother's sacrifice by blood but with several different other functions. One such function was that they wound an insidious compulsion into both him and the Dursley's, which explained why and how Vernon had resisted the way he did. All of it linked back to Dumbledore, as Harry already knew, but it only served to disgust him all the more, especially as he could see the lines of the compulsion spell trying to make their way past his shields. Harry batted his hand, sending the strands running, though not in such a way that would alert Dumbledore of his meddling, and set about altering the wards at a base level.

The first thing he did was to remove Dumbledore as the notification recipient and placed himself as such. Next, He abolished the compulsion spell completely. It was no longer needed. Then he went about strengthening the wards to the point where nothing from the outside world would be able to gain access to the house or even sense what was going on. To the outside world, the house did not exist. It was not a Fidelius Charm, no, that could be circumvented. The wards were quite simply that strong and not even Dumbledore would be able to get through the wards. Now, again he would not be here for very long. This would be like a failsafe, somewhere he could go and not be found when all else failed.

Harry cast a quick tempus. It was well past nine in the evening. He sighed heavily and flopped down onto his transfigured bed, cast a quick silencing charm just in case, and fell asleep. It had been a long, long time since he had a full, restful night's sleep and he was hoping that now, with no war hanging over his shoulders, he would get some well-earned rest. He was not disappointed.

–Scene Break–

Harry slept well into the morning, his rest deep and peaceful with none of the nightmares that had usually plagued his dreams. Yawning deeply, Harry rolled over and stared up at the ceiling of his room. He blinked several times, clearing his eyesight, and trying to fully wake up. He had not slept so deeply in years, decades even. As he lay there, Harry contemplated the pros, cons, and over all consequences of his current situation. He could perform magic outside of school, which is a bit of a shocker since he knew the trace should still be active on him at this stage in his life, not to mention he had been performing magic on and around muggles. This was a plus, obviously, but it was still a conundrum that needed solving. The two things that needed solving the most and likely would never be solved was how and why he was back here in time.

With a heavy sigh, Harry rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom. After relieving himself, Harry spent the next hour indulging himself in a nice, long, hot bath, something else that he had not been able to do in a very, very long time. It had always been quick showers or even quicker cleaning and freshening charms that really did very little in the way of making him feel well and truly clean. The bath took care of that. Even though his body was not the body he had left behind, Harry still felt all the blood, grime, and gore from fighting in a war leave his body. His muscles slowly started to relax, though again they were not the same muscles he had left behind.

After he was done soaking and was finally clean, Harry got out of the bath, dressed in the same clothing he wore the day before after a strong cleaning charm, and went downstairs. Not surprisingly, all three Dursleys were huddled in the living room, unsure of what to do with themselves. The compulsion Harry had placed upon them was a unique one and very old. It was designed for slaves when the magical world still had human slaves. It would bend their will until they would obey any order given to them by the one in control of the spell.

"No one is to know what happens under this roof," Harry said as he entered the room, startling the occupants. "Go about your daily lives as usual and tell no one about me. If someone asks you about me tell them you sent me to boarding school, unless I am in the house for you to consult." After receiving answering nods, Harry walked out of the house and down the street where he stuck out his wand to summon the Knight Bus. "Leaky Cauldron, London." He said to the guy that had greeted him.

Ignoring the jostling of the ride, Harry waited patiently until the bus stopped outside the leaky cauldron. He waited for the bus to leave and then promptly turned and walked away from the pub and headed towards the heart of London, which just happened to be a few blocks away. Going into the nearest mall, Harry found the nearest clothing store and proceeded to purchase just about every single article of clothing in the store. Shirts, pants, socks, underwear, shoes, jackets, gloves and even a few hats. He stepped into one of the changing rooms and quickly changed into an entirely new outfit, including underwear. He would have put on the shoes but they had one of those damn security tags on them that alerted the store if he took it near the store entrance.

"Hello young man," the check out lady said to him, causing Harry to pause. He had not been called 'young man' since he was forty. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he continued to place his items on the counter. "Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"I did thank you." Harry said with a charming smile on his face that caused the woman to smile back at him. "This is for the uh... yeah." He said with some slight embarrassment as he handed over the tags for the underwear he had put on. He also held up the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt that still had the tag on it and the tag for his pants.

"Really wanted a change of clothing didn't you?" the lady asked with an indulgent smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Harry said with an emphatic sigh and small chuckle. "Too many holes in too many uncomfortable places." The woman chuckled in amusement as she rung up the shoes, removed the tag and handed them over to Harry, who took them eagerly with a grateful smile and quickly slipped them on his feet and tied them up. They were a regular pair of black sneakers. He had gone through ten pairs before he had found one that felt comfortable on his feet.

"So are you here by yourself?" The woman asked, concern lacing her features suddenly. Harry assumed that he acted so old for his age that he projected a persona of someone who was actually much older than eleven.

"Oh no," Harry lied easily as he started counting the muggle cash he had got from Gringotts yesterday. "My mom is working in a different shop in the mall but her shift isn't over so she sent me a head with the money she saved up to get me some new clothes since I really, really needed to get new clothes."

"Alright," she said as she wrapped up the sale and gave him his change. "Just be careful walking around with so much money. It's not safe."

"I will," Harry said with a reassuring smile as he picked up the eight bags of clothing he had purchased and walked out of the store into the mall proper.

Harry quickly located a bathroom and slipped inside and then into the, thankfully, empty handicap stall and set down all his bags with a slight huff. He bent down and pulled a bag with most of his various pants towards him. Thankfully they were all still folded so he gingerly pulled them all out and balanced them in one hand stacked on top of each other. With a wave of his wand they were all bound together with a strong, tight rope. He then shrunk them down so that they sat perfectly in the palm of his hand, no bigger than a quarter. He then waved his wand over the empty bag and it grew large enough to be considered a backpack. Harry then set about tying each other bag and then shrinking them all down to the size of a coffee mug.

Satisfied, Harry placed everything into the backpack sized bag and then shrunk the bag down to the size of a quarter and stuffed it into the pocket of his form fitting black jeans. He smiled slightly as he rubbed his stomach through his black long sleeve that had an image of a rearing lion in the center. Deciding it was time for lunch, it was close to noon after all, Harry donned the forest green cap he had left out of the bags and left the mall to return to the Leaky cauldron where he ordered a good, hefty meal from Tom, along with a room for the next three weeks. He would be hunting for a semi-permanent residence that he could stay at during the summer and maybe the winter holidays if he so chose but he needed something immediately.

"Something about food made in the magical world," Harry mumbled to himself as he wiped his face and hands with his napkin. "Always better than when it's made in the muggle world."

His meal finished, Harry went out back and tapped the brick necessary to get into Diagon Alley. Today was much more bustling than it had been yesterday, probably since yesterday was when people received their letters and today was the day after. With a slight shrug, Harry delved into the street and made straight for Madam Malkin's. Today seemed to be a day for buying clothes in excess, not that Harry minded, he just found it odd that he chose clothing first as opposed to either books or the other various stores he needed to visit to get all of his supplies for the upcoming year at Hogwarts. Given his knowledge bank, it was not strictly necessary that he go to the school, but it would serve his purposes for both present and future.

When the bustling woman finally finished with his fitting for his school robes, Harry left the shop and went about gathering up the things he needed, along with various other things that no sane shop keeper should allow an eleven year old to have. For those, he had to venture into Knockturn Alley where few questions were asked and even fewer people took stock of what people bought or did. At the apothecary Harry grabbed several different cauldrons of various different makes along with several ingredients that were not on any Hogwarts curriculum. Flourish and Blotts had him buying all of his necessary reading material and a few books that were simply for his enjoyment, though a few were on the Dark Arts.

Surprisingly, very few people questioned him, an eleven year old boy in appearance purchasing all of these things on his own. Then again, he was pretty apt to staying unnoticed and on the edges of people's awareness. That would all change when he got to Hogwarts but for now it was enjoyable and often taken advantage of as he bought things other children would not. The last stop of the day he made was to Eeylops Owl Emporium to purchase his first and longtime companion. Hedwig. She had been such a brave and loyal owl, who had served him so many times during the war until she had been lost to a curse that had been meant for him. Despite the war raging, Harry had set up a memorial for her in commemoration of her sacrifice. She had also been the tipping point in that particular battle. Harry had destroyed the entire contingent of Death Eaters of that raid after that.

With all of his shopping done, Harry returned to the Leaky Cauldron and went up to his room where he deposited everything in a heap at the foot of his bed. Except for Hedwig of course. Her, Harry had set carefully on the rickety table that was in the room while he set everything down so he could let her out of her cage. Just like before, Hedwig had taken an instant liking to him and had sidled up to his shoulder so she could start preening his hair. Harry smiled as a feeling of comfort and familiarity washed over him and he spent almost an entire hour just petting and socializing with his owl.

–Scene Break–

Harry sat on the Hogwarts Express completely bored out of his mind. He had arrived at the station a full hour and a half prior to when it was supposed to depart, something he was starting to regret, and he had no desire to read. He had spent the rest of his summer hunting for a new place to live and had found it a few weeks ago in the form of a lovely and rather large bachelor pad in muggle London. It was a few blocks from Diagon Alley and so would not leave him feeling disconnected from the magical world but was separated enough that he could get away from everything easily. The flat was located on the twentieth floor of a muggle high rise and he had arranged to live there for the next five years with a contingency for another five if he so decided at the end of the first five. Harry had moved in and taken the place over the second the paperwork had gone through; with a little 'assistance' (he was eleven after all).

When he had settled into his new place and had spent a week just enjoying himself, Harry had started pouring over his Dark Arts books and some of the more darker potions books he had purchased for a way to rid himself of Helga's cup without it blowing up half the house. He knew of a few ways to destroy a Horcrux but he did not want to go there. It had been dangerous destroying those things with no protection and he did not wish to repeat those injuries. Until he found a safer method of destroying them the cup would just have to sit in isolation at the Dursley's, under heavy wards that kept it contained completely of course.

"Excuse me," a voice said and Harry stiffened instantly. He knew that voice and it took every last ounce of his considerable self-control not to turn around and hex the boy into the next millennium. Hedwig's continued preening of his hair and a soft nibble on his ear helped as well. "Mind if sit in here?" Weasley asked, his voice grating on Harry's nerves like nails over a black board.

"I'm actually waiting for my friends," Harry said with forced calm. _He's just a boy. He technically has not betrayed you. Hex him now and there will be hell to pay. He's just a boy. An innocent, ignorant, boy. _"They should be along shortly."

"Are you sure I can't–" Weasley's words were cut off as Hedwig hooted demandingly and swiveled her head to level a glare at the redhead. Harry swore he heard a slight squeak as the boy quickly left the compartment and rushed away.

"Thanks girl," Harry said with a small smile as he reached up a hand to stroke Hedwig's soft feathers. She hooted back at him and started preening his hair again. Ever since Harry had purchased her, Hedwig had rarely left his shoulder. Most would have considered this strange or odd but Harry found her presence comforting and allowed her, her favorite perch, though she had an actual perch in his flat.

"Oh that's a lovely owl," another voice sounded, this one bringing a smile to Harry's face. He turned to see the same head of bushy hair he had seen throughout most of his life, usually buried in some book or flapping about as she flung spells left and right.

"Thanks," Harry said with a beaming smile. "Her name's Hedwig. You're welcome to share my compartment if you like." He said, gesturing to the seat across from him.

"Can I pet her?" Hermione asked as she moved into the compartment, still staring at Hedwig as if she had never seen an owl before.

"Oh she loves attention," Harry said as he reached up a hand and coaxed Hedwig onto his hand so he could bring her closer to Hermione. "She only really dislikes someone if I do, with the rare few exceptions of people that just simply rub her the wrong way. Just like a person really." he chuckled at the end there, eliciting one from Hermione as well.

"I'm Hermione by the way, Hermione Granger." Hermione said as she stroked Hedwig's chest, giggling slightly when the bird nibbled affectionately at her fingers.

"Harry Potter. Yes, yes I know I'm famous," Harry said quickly as Hermione's eyes shot up and bulged, about to go in on how she had read all about him. "But let's just pretend I'm a regular eleven year old wizard heading to Hogwarts for the first time. After all, I've read a few of the 'history books' that have me in them and almost ninety percent of the so called facts they've listed about me are complete rubbish."

"Really?" Hermione said, cocking her head to the side in confusion, as if she could not comprehend that a book was anything but pure fact.

"Oh yes," Harry said with an annoyed huff as he shifted Hedwig back to his shoulder. "For example, I don't live in some fancy mansion or whatever. Nor have I ever been worshiped as some deity. I swear, whoever is publishing those things needs to do a little more research before they even start writing. I mean honestly, I didn't even know magic existed until I got my Hogwarts letter."

"Really now?" A smooth yet childish drawl sounded from the compartment door. Harry idly noted that the train had started moving and was nearing the edge of the city. He turned to see a familiar blond standing in the doorway. "How does Harry Potter grow up not knowing about magic."

"I was raised by my muggle relatives," Harry said keeping his face carefully blank. He did not feel the same way he had felt the first time around about Draco. The blond had come to him during the war offing up information to try and help them all bring down the Dark Lord. As such, they had worked very closely with each other and had to bury the hatchet at some point so they could stand to be in the same room with one another. Still, this was the younger version of Draco Malfoy, one who had yet to feel the effects of full scale war and who had prejudices rooted deeply within his mind. "They like to pretend magic doesn't exist so did not tell me."

"Fascinating," Draco said with a calculating look in his eyes. He held out his hand, much as he had done before. "I'm Draco Malfoy."

"A pleasure," Harry said as he shook the hand like he had not last time. _Perhaps I can change more than just the war. _He thought to himself. "This is Hermione Granger. Yes she's a muggleborn and she's a friend." The look he leveled at the blond dared him to say something derogatory towards her. Surprisingly, Draco did not say a thing and merely turned and left the compartment after spending a good chunk of time staring at Hermione.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked in confusion, turning from the door back to Harry.

"Some wizarding families greatly dislike muggleborns," Harry explained with a slightly sour expression on his face. "So much so that they try everything in their power to purge the wizarding world of their influence. It's what the last war was all about. But that's neither here nor there. Want to play Exploding Snap?"

Hermione stared at him in complete confusion and he laughed and patted the seat next to him as he took out his deck. The rest of the train ride passed in companionable fun as Harry taught Hermione how to play the game and then proceeded to get his ass handed to him several times. It never failed apparently. No matter the time line or the age. Hermione was just that much better at the game than he was, even when she was just learning how to play. The distraction had worked though. Hermione neglected to pin him on his little slip over telling Draco that he was raised by magic hating muggles and then explaining to her about the prejudice towards muggleborns.

"So what house do you think you'll be in?" Hermione questioned as they followed Hagrid towards the boats. As he had been calling the first years Hagrid had been scanning the crowd of eleven year old students. Harry knew he was looking for him but did not want to be noticed quite just yet so he clung to the shadows slightly.

"Oh I'm sure everyone will be expecting me to follow in my parents footsteps and go to Gryffindor." Harry said once they were settled into the boats. Funnily enough, they ended up in a boat with Draco, who sat in front of them and kept silent. Harry eyed the blonds back for a few moments but decided to let it be for now. "But I honestly don't know what house I'll be in. It all depends on how they do the sorting. You on the other hand, I think will be going into either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw."

"Gryffindor?" Draco questioned from the front, startling them. He did not turn to face them when he spoke but Harry was still surprised the blond had spoken at all. "Why would you think Gryffindor?"

"Just a little hunch," Harry said after a silent contemplation of the boy in front of him. "Hermione seems to have a quiet bravery about her, despite her love of books."

"Harry," Hermione whispered as they disembarked and put a little distance between them and Draco. "We played Exploding Snap the entire train ride. I never told you that I loved books."

"You didn't?" Harry damned the squeak that came from his throat as he glanced nervously at Hermione. He also damned his slip. There were times when Hermione was just too damned sharp. "I uh... could have sworn you said you loved to read at some point. Didn't you?" Damn but he sounded nervous. He had not sounded nervous in ninety years. Hell, with the war raging had not _been _nervous for that long.

"No Harry, I was too busy beating you at Exploding Snap." Hermione said with a slight grin, though she did not stop staring at Harry. She paused briefly to listen to McGonagall give her speech about the houses and what not. Having heard it before Harry easily tuned it out and frantically tried to think of an excuse while raining in his nerves. No one could know what was really going on with him. "Now, how did you know I like to read?"

"I," Harry said, asserting his will and keeping his voice perfectly level. "Made an educated guess. Your muggleborn but you were talking about Hogwarts as if you were a pureblood that grew up with stories of the castle and its houses. It made sense that you had read all, or most of the history text, which would imply that you enjoyed reading."

"Convincing Harry," Hermione said with a nod as she looked to the boy next to her as she followed the crowed into the Great Hall. "I almost believed that. Now, tell me the truth. How did you know?"

_Damn,_ Harry thought in frustration. _I never could lie to her very well. Even when we were older than Dumbledore and well and truly battle hardened I still couldn't lie to her. Hmmm... _His thoughts paused as an idea popped into his head. _I almost wonder if she has a magical ability to tell truth from lies. I'll have to look into that. Though how I have no idea._

"Granger, Hermione!" McGonagall's voice called over the hall sometime after the hat's song and in just enough time to save Harry from having to answer her question.

"This isn't over," Hermione hissed quietly as she moved forward. Harry audibly gulped. Even at this age the witch could be quite imposing.

"_GRYFFINDOR!_" the hat shouted after a few minutes of sitting on Hermione's head. Harry smiled. Some things just would not change. The girl had bravery that would fill Godric with pride to have her in his house.

"Potter, Harry!" McGonagall called some students later. The hall burst out into whispers and everyone locked eyes onto him as he made his way forward.

"_Well, well, welcome to Hogwarts young Potter,_" The Sorting Hat said in Harry's head. "_I... well now, those are some strong shields you have their. Don't think I've ever seen such shields before. You'll have to lower them a bit if you want to be sorted._"

_You won't like what you find. _Harry said even as he adjusted his shields slightly. _I trust you will keep what you find to yourself and no one else._

"_Of course, of course, I never..._" The hat trailed off as he started rooting about in Harry's head. "_I-I-I... _HOW? _How are you like this? By Merlin himself this should not be possible!_"

_You're telling me! I still have no idea how this happened._ Harry grumbled in annoyance. _Just sort me please. Your delay is drawing attention._

"_But you're a MAN!_" The hat said, nearly shouting it to the rest of the hall. "_You don't belong here! I can't sort you. I refuse._"

_Hat! _Harry growled dangerously. _Sort me or so help me I will hex you back to your maker!_

"_I am protected by the magic of the founders! You cannot... oh. Well I suppose you can._" The hat's protests had been cut short when Harry shoved a memory of some very esoteric spells that Harry had discovered during the war, along with the knowledge of his magical sight that allowed him to pick apart spells. "_SLYTHERIN!_" the hat called to the hall, though Harry heard a distinctive squeak to the hat's voice, evidence of its nervousness. "_Now go away and don't bother me again._" was the last thing Harry heard before the hat was taken off his head and he left the stool.

Harry smirked as he made his way across the silent hall to sit down at the Slytherin table, which was just as shocked and silent as the rest of the hall. No one moved, they barely breathed. The Slytherins all around him stared at him in open shock, something that was not like them. A swift look with a raised eyebrow had them all turning their gazes away in embarrassment. Harry returned his attention back to the front of the hall, where the entire staff was staring at him. He locked eyes with McGonagall and raised his eyebrow once again, a look that clearly said he thought they were all being rude and should continue with the sorting. McGonagall seemed to start before she continued with the sorting.

"For someone raised with muggles who disliked magic, you certainly seem to have mastered the pureblood art of controlling people with a look." Draco commented from next to Harry, the only one who dared to speak to the raven haired boy. The rest of the Slytherins were still in a state of shock and were watching Harry from the corner of their eyes.

"I said they liked to pretend it didn't exist, not that they didn't like it." Harry corrected as he watched the last student be sorted into Ravenclaw. Surprisingly, Dumbledore did not do his customary start of term statement of random words. He just waved his hand and the feast started. A little disconcerted, Harry began to fill his plate with food.

"What eleven-year-old eats like that?" Draco questioned as he stared at the food on Harry's plate. It was filled with stuffing, grilled chicken, casserole, a bowl of salad off to the side and a bowl of fruit. "You eat like an old man concerned for his health."

"This eleven-year-old and what's your point?" Harry said as he smiled slightly when Hedwig alighted upon his shoulder. She had taken off when they had departed the train and had headed straight for the castle. A few other Slytherins noted the owl but none of them commented. "So I eat healthy. Big deal."

"My point is that I have only ever seen a child eat like that when their parents are hovering over their shoulders." Draco said as he took a bite of his fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

"Well I haven't got any of those now do I?" Harry retorted with a snort and a sideways glance at the blond.

He scowled as he felt something brush up against his Occlumency shields. He looked up towards the Head Table where he could feel the probe coming from. He saw both Dumbledore and Snape staring at him. Knowing that Snape would never delve into a defenseless child's mind, Harry discretely reached up a hand behind the backs of the students around him so no one would notice and gripped the air, actually gripping the mental probe with a little magic laced in his hands. Without warning and without anyone noticing, surprisingly, Harry yanked his arm downwards and quickly returned to his meal.

Like a marionette, Dumbledore had followed Harry's quick movement and ended up face planting into his food with a great deal of force. Dishes scattered as the entire table jumped. Food went flying in all directions, causing Snape's already foul glare to worsen. Dumbledore, who had moved on to dessert, was now wearing his slice of cream pie all over his face, with the cherry sitting perfectly in his right eye. The man was quite obviously stunned and shocked, not to mention probably suffering a concussion given how hard he had hit the table, and the entire hall stared in confused shock as the aged Headmaster swayed in his seat and attempted to regain his bearings. Madam Pomfrey, who was a few seats down, got up and immediately started casting spells while McGonagall peppered him with questions.

"What on earth just happened?" Draco questioned as he stared up at the Head Table like everyone else in the hall.

"Haven't the foggiest," Harry said in an almost too innocent voice as he finished off his meal and down the last of his water. "Never met the man before so I can't vouch for his behavior."

Draco stared at him in suspicion, obviously not believing Harry's lie, but did not comment. For all intents and purposes, Harry appeared to be an aloof Slytherin that was completely unconcerned with the happenings around him, much to the blond's surprise. Harry was quickly becoming an enigma to the rich and spoiled pureblood, one he intended to figure out. However, Harry was quite skilled at keeping people from noticing things he did not want people to notice and it was going to be one major struggle for the blond to get any answers to his already long list of questions.

When everyone had finished their deserts and were all quickly becoming drowsy from the food coma that Hogwarts food had a tendency to inspire, the prefects of all the houses began leading the students, mainly the first years, out of the hall and towards their perspective dorms. The prefect, one Gemma Farley, led the way down into the dungeons and through the maze of corridors that guarded the dorms from the rest of the castle. Making note of the password, Harry proceeded to dutifully listen to her speech about house unity outside the walls of the common room before following her orders to go pick out a bedroom, since Slytherin students were provided individual bedrooms as opposed to the other houses that all shared dorms together.

"At least I won't have to listen to Weasley's prattle this time," Harry mumbled under his breath as he quickly stalked down the hall for the boy's dorms and quickly picked out an empty room, Hedwig still on his shoulder preening her own feathers this time instead of his hair. "And it will be so much more private. Perfect for me don't you think girl?" He got a hoot in response.

Taking out his shrunken trunk from his pocket, Harry set it at the foot of his bed and quickly set about making the room much cozier. Having been vacated for a few years, the room was barren and had only a bed, desk, wardrobe, and bedside table, all of which looked rickety and run down at best. A flick of his wand had the fire tuned up a notch (dungeons were anything but warm) and he set about transfiguring the bed and other furniture. The bed was quickly turned into a king size four poster with thick comforters with warming charms, all coverings black and silver, with designs all over the wood, which had become ebony oak. If anyone had taken a closer look to the carvings, they would have noticed runes and other various markings mingled into the look, all of which invoked spells of protections, safety, and a three foot perimeter of warning.

The desk, bedside table, and wardrobe all followed the bed in terms of looks and stability. The wardrobe Harry cast an undetectable expansion charm on as he had quite a bit of clothing now, having done more clothing shopping later in the summer after acquiring his flat. He also enlarged the desk slightly so he had a little more room to work with. Harry also conjured a book case and filled it with most of the books he had brought with him, though he left the darker books hidden securely in his well warded trunk.

When he had the room the way he wanted it, Harry turned towards the door and pointed his wand at the frame. His mouth formed soft words as he spoke the incantations to a spell only he knew in this time. More carvings started etching themselves into the stone and wood around the actual door. These were different from the ones on the bed though. The runes and other archaic markings were not just for protection. They were keyed to intent, specific people, magical signatures, and other various things Harry placed into the markings. They would ward the rooms against anyone or anything he did not approve, even house elves, though they would have access to a point.

Knowing his time was short, he knew Snape was about to come down for his start of the year speech any minute, Harry turned and started the last touches of his room. Severus had gotten drunk one night late into the war when his position as a spy had been discovered and told him about how he managed Slytherin House when Harry had asked. Every year the man came to the common room to give the new years a speech about how things worked at Hogwarts and how the other houses were stacked against their house by virtue of being Slytherins and how they needed to provide a unified front to the rest of the school, no matter if they personally disliked someone else in their house.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Harry went to the corner nearest him and chanted a long, complex spell that caused a little ball of light no bigger than a galleon to appear inches from the ground. Harry repeated this process in the other three corners of the room. When that was complete, he stood in the center of the room with his wand raised in the air. He closed his eyes and started chanting in a cross between ancient Greek and a druid language he had spent _months_ attempting to crack before finally succeeding when he found a scroll that crossed the language into Egyptian.

On the last word, Harry brought his wand down in a sharp motion, providing a central point in the room for the four nodes of light to connect with. The four nodes shot out, creating a complex series of patterns that looked like they came from ancient times and belonged in an alchemist's work shop. The symbols were strange and appeared as nothing more than strange doodles, but every one of them had a meaning, a purpose, and a function. It was a ritualistic spell he had used numerous times before. What it did was create an aura of peace and tranquility, making all that entered instantly relaxed and calm, though it would fail if an argument broke out _inside_ the room and escalated into shouts. It had come in right handy during some of the darker points of the war. The giant pattern flared white before it lowered and carved itself into the stone and faded from existence. Smiling happily, Harry slid his wand up his sleeve into his holster and left his room.

Severus had just entered the common room when Harry came out of the hallway that led to the boy's dorms. Harry moved over to the fireplace where the other first years were gathered, along with a few older years.

"What took you so long?" Draco questioned as Harry came up and leaned back against the edge of the fireplace, enjoying the warmth it gave off.

"I was setting up my room," Harry said with a shrug as he watched the lanky, pale, and younger Severus Snape stalk towards them and start talking. Harry quirked an eyebrow when the man said that all the first years would be going through a private medical exam with him in a few minutes. Severus had neglected that little fact when he had informed Harry of his duties.

"For an entire hour?" Draco questioned in disbelief. Harry frowned and looked down at his watch. His eyebrows rose into his hairline when he saw that Draco was right. Dinner had ended at about eight and it was now nearing nine fifteen. He shrugged and went back to listening to Severus explain some finer details about being in Slytherin house and how he would be available for two hours every other evening in the common room for help with homework or anything else. "You're a first year. What could you possibly have to set up that would take an entire hour?"

Draco's voice had risen a little too high as he finished that sentence and everyone fell quiet to stare at him. The blond's cheeks flared even as he attempted to try and maintain a cool composure. Severus stared at Draco and Harry with a blank expression, though his eyes were narrowed. Neither of them spoke again after that, not daring to draw the attention of their tetchy head of house. Harry prayed that Draco would forget his inquiries among Severus' speech, which bordered on ranting, that way he would not have to bother trying to dodge the other boy's suspicions.

"So?" Draco said when Severus had at last finished his speech and had moved to his office, which was behind a painting near the entrance to the dorms, to perform the medical exams he had promised. Harry sighed quietly and kept his eyes on the book he was reading, waiting for Draco to actually ask a question. "What did you have to set up?"

"See for yourself," Harry said with a shrug as he pointed towards the bedrooms. "Second door from the far end on the left."

"Can't you just tell me?" Draco practically whined. Harry looked up to make sure he was still speaking with Draco Malfoy. He had never heard the other boy _whine _before.

"I could," Harry said, smirking at the way Draco seemed to beam at getting his way. That is until Harry continued speaking. "But you wouldn't believe me if I told you all I did was set up my books on the bookshelf, place a few writing implements in my desk, and make sure I had everything ready for tomorrow morning."

"All that took you a full hour?" Draco questioned in disbelief, looking remarkably like his older self with one eyebrow raised and a haughty look on his face.

"Apparently, though I had no idea I took that long." Harry said with a shrug and gestured again towards the hall. "Go on and check if you don't believe me."

"Potter," a fifth year student, not a prefect, said as he came up to the couch, drawing their attention. "It's your turn with Professor Snape."

Harry nodded and stood up, pocketing his muggle novel as he moved towards the painting and stepped inside. The office Harry entered was actually very different from the one Harry had been in several times for detentions over the course of his first round of Hogwarts education and it made Harry wonder if the man had more than one office; one for his snakes and one for the rest of the school. Either way, the warm tones of the office gave off a soft comforting feel and inspired a sense of trust and relaxation. Harry nodded absently. If his suspicions were right then this office would be perfect for what Severus was using it for.

"Potter," the familiar drawl and bite to his name caused Harry to smile briefly before he controlled his features and schooled them into a look of an awed and slightly frightened first year student as he turned around.

"Professor," Harry said respectfully, attempting to waylay some of the man's ire towards him.

"Sit," Severus gestured towards the chair in front of the fire. Harry made a show of looking at it nervously before hesitantly moving forward and sitting down. The next words out of Severus' mouth sounded as if they burned the man's tongue. "This may be a bit startling but it will not hurt you."

"Okay Professor," Harry said, doing his best to mimic a child's voice when they sounded slightly nervous or scared.

It helped that he was, mildly nervous. The spell Severus was casting was a general diagnostic scan that had a bit more of an edge to it and Harry knew exactly what it would find. One of the first things Harry did over the summer was assess and tend to his body's physical condition. He bought or brewed several potions and cast dozens of spells, all designed to try and repair the damage he knew lingered in his system from the abuse he had suffered the past ten years before he 'woke up' as he liked to call it. Unfortunately, he could not do anything about the scars that riddled his back no matter how hard he tried and his internal damage was still healing. Harry was not sure how he felt about Severus, or anyone really, knowing about what had happened to him at the hands of people who were supposed to care for him.

"Mr. Potter," Severus voice was much softer and kinder than Harry had ever heard it before and it caused him to look at the man out of the corner of his eye. Severus had drawn up a chair and was sitting in it with a particularly odd expression on his face. It almost looked like concern. "Your injuries show signs of medical treatment. Have you been to a healer?"

"Not exactly Professor," Harry said in a calm voice, deciding to maintain eye contact with the fire flickering in the fireplace. "It's a bit complicated and I can't tell you everything but I have been receiving a facsimile of professional medical treatment over the past few months. I have a stock of potions I'm supposed to take daily to help with the internal damage." It was true. He had stocked up on those potions since he knew the internal damage could be dangerous in the long run.

"Was it your relatives who caused these injuries?" Severus really did not need to finish that sentence. The second the words 'your relatives' left his mouth Harry's control over his features snapped briefly and the most vile of sneers crossed his face, causing the Potion Master's blood to freeze in his veins. As Harry's features returned to normal, Severus could not help but wonder at the depth of abuse that sat before him. "You may go Mr. Potter but I wish to have a list of the potions you are supposed to take just to ensure that they are the best for you."

"Yes Professor," Harry said as he stood and made for the door. "I'll get it to you as soon as possible."

With that, Harry left the room, leaving behind a stunned and rather pissed Potions Master.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe save for my OC's

**A/N: **OK! So I've got a lot of fabulous reviews for the stories I've posted recently. The only one with any real controversy is Submission, which I completely expected as I was not exactly sure of that one myself. I will leave that one up for a few more days to see if there are any stragglers out there who might have more input for me before I decide to do anything with it. In the mean time, I will be posting the rest of the chapters I have completed for my other works as those have all received good reviews and everyone seems to like them. For all who follow my other stories and are desperate for an update, do not fear. **Revenge** and** The Fourth Rider** should have a new chapter in a few weeks or so. It is merely difficult for me to find time to write now that I'm working as a cashier. I'm usually so dead after work that I come home and collapse lol. These other stories I have been poking and prodding for several months and that is why I have a number of chapters to post.

Happy Readings to you all and please review! I love your guys' reviews. They often make my day :-)

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CHAPTER TWO

Severus Snape sat within the confines of his quarters staring into the fireplace with a glass of brandy dangling from his finger tips and contemplated over the day's, or rather evenings, events. The biggest thing that kept popping into his brain was that Potter was now one of his snakes. It was a fact that he quite simply just could not wrap his mind around. What was worse was the fact that the boy was quite possibly the most severe case of abuse he had ever seen and that was saying something. He did not even have to have the boy take off his shirt for him to know that there were scars all over it. The spell had told him as such, along with several other disturbing things, least of which was the damage done to the boy's ability to grow. Thankfully, whomever was treating the boy seemed to have some brains as the damage was healing... slowly.

Severus sighed heavily. To say that he had not been expecting this was a rather large understatement. Along with the rest of the school, Severus had stared in complete dumbfounded shock when the sorting hat had called out his house instead of the expected Gryffindor. It had put him in a foul mood for the rest of the evening (which had not been helped by the incident with the Headmaster inexplicably slamming his head on the table) and he had been fully prepared to put the brat in his place the first opportunity he got, thinking that the boy had grown up spoiled rotten. He had not been prepared for the results of his scans.

Severus had made sure that the boy was to be the last one for his annual start of term checkup for his first years so he did not take out his anger on the other children. When the boy had first walked into his office he had held back his first instinct to snap at the boy to get into the room and sit down. Something about the boy had seemed... off. Clinging to the shadows the way he had, Severus had noted the assessing look the boy had given his office and the slight, almost imperceptible nod of approval he had given to the arrangement and color scheme. As if he knew and understood exactly why Severus had chosen to design the room the way it was. Then he had seen the way the boy's face had morphed into a seemingly childish expression from the almost adult look he had before, as if Potter was trying to _act _younger than he actually was.

When his spell reported to him its findings, Severus had nearly blown a gasket and had to literally bite down on his tongue to keep from lashing out, knowing that it would likely only terrify the child. He had also been prepared to march from the office then and there and demand from Dumbledore that he send the Aurors after those horrible muggles that had abused Potter so badly. The knowledge that Dumbledore would not believe him and do everything in his power to keep him silent was the only thing that had kept him rooted in place.

Then there was the fact that Potter appeared to be taking everything in stride, showing a remarkable indication that he was well on his way to being healed, mentally that is, from his abuse. He talked about it easily, answering Severus' questions about a healer and speaking of the internal damage as if he had already come to terms with the situation. Most children his age don't even really understand what had happened to them, let alone act the way Potter had. It was confusing and had dredged up a headache that pounded between Severus' eyeballs and refused to leave.

Deciding to keep an eye on the boy as much as possible, Severus downed the rest of his drink and went to bed.

–Scene Break–

Harry sat in his room, enjoying the silence and relaxing sensations of his room on a chair he had transfigured out of a spare pencil he had. He was drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate he had obtained from the elves that had just a little extra kick from a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka that he had brought with him from the muggle world. Harry knew he really should not be drinking, his body was only eleven after all, but after the stress of the evening he needed a little extra something to help him calm down. After finishing his 'exam' with Severus, Harry had gone straight to his room, not feeling up to socializing any more. Draco had wanted to talk and question him about what he had been doing for an entire hour in his room before Severus came down to the dorms but Harry had refused and went to his room. The blond had attempted to follow only to find the door sealed shut and would not budge.

Hedwig let out an absent hoot in her sleep and Harry looked fondly over to where she sat on her perch sound asleep with her head under her wing. The snowy owl had barely left Harry's side since he got her from the store and he was content to let it stay that way, though she would have to go elsewhere during classes as he doubted his professors would allow her in their classrooms. Sighing heavily, Harry turned from his feathered familiar and went back to staring into the flames of his fireplace, allowing his thoughts to wander wherever they may.

He was concerned. When Severus had learned of his abuse he had acted very differently from what Harry had expected of the man. Then again, in the previous time line, no one knew of his abuse. It would make sense that once Severus discovered it he would act differently from what Harry remembered of the man. His concern though, lay with what the man was going to do with the information he now had. Harry did not want an inquiry done into his relatives since it would raise far too many questions and suspicions between their behavior and the advanced wards on the house.

"So many problems, so little time." Harry grumbled before draining the last of his drink and getting up from his chair. He went over to his desk and quickly jotted down all the potions he was taking before he stripped down to his underwear and slipped under his nice warm comforters and quickly fell asleep, allowing the wards of his room to relax back into their more passive state.

The next morning resulted in a near heart attack situation for both Harry and Draco. The blond had walked into Harry's room after a few unanswered knocks. Since they were keyed to intent, the wards on Harry's room had allowed the other boy entrance but the wards on Harry's bed were another matter. The second Draco's foot crossed the three foot mark Harry shot straight up and fired off a stunner in Draco's general direction. Luckily, Draco had good reflexes of his own and managed to hit the ground, ducking the stunner just as it sailed past his head. Harry sat there on the bed for several minutes, still half asleep but waking up fast and Draco did not dare to move lest he incur another spell from the obviously startled boy.

"Who's there?" Harry finally demanded, his voice allowing for no disobedience. He was quite obviously still half asleep as he had yet to recognize the fact that he was at Hogwarts but that did not detract from his obvious control of the situation. Absently he glanced at the clock and noted that it was five in the morning, meaning he had got only about five hours of sleep, having gone to bed at midnight.

"Draco," the blond replied in a sheepish and obviously startled voice. Slowly, his head poked its way above the edge of Harry's bed.

"Draco?" Harry questioned and then seemed to come fully awake, finally lowering his wand. "For Christ's sake Draco! What the hell are you doing in my room at five in the morning!?"

"I knocked but you didn't answer." Draco defended himself. He stood up fully and brushed imaginary dust off his robes while straightening them up at the same time. "And it's time to get up."

"First of all," Harry said as he threw aside the covers and went over to his wardrobe, not caring one whit about his lack of dress. "Just because I don't answer does not give you license to just waltz right in. Second, classes don't start for another three and a half hours. Third I had an alarm set to wake me up with enough time to shower and eat breakfast."

"How was I supposed to know you had an alarm?" Draco questioned in a slightly angry tone, miffed that he was being chastised by someone his own age.

"You ask." Harry said plainly as he gathered up a set of his school robes, everything he needed to shower, and walked from the room.

"I probably would have if hadn't said you didn't know any magic." Draco retorted as he followed the irate brunette from the room and into the bathroom, stopping around the corner from the shower stalls to give the other boy some privacy.

"I never said I did not know any magic." Harry said calmly, not the least perturbed about having a conversation with another person while he was taking a shower, having done it many times in the past... well, his past anyways. "I said I did not know about magic until I received my Hogwarts letter, which does not mean that I did not learn any spells in between the time I received my letter and now. I understand you were trying to be nice and helpful and I appreciate that but I'm very jumpy in the morning when I'm not expecting visitors."

"I noticed," Draco groused as he rubbed his sore chest from where he had hit the ground hard in his dodging of Harry's spell. "What spell did you fire at me anyways?"

"Just a stunner," Harry said casually as he walked back around the corner with his pants on but nothing else.

Draco watched with a frown on his face as he watched Harry walk over to one of the mirrors, wipe it down with a towel and began grooming himself. The blond had no clue as to what Harry was doing when he stuck a weird stick with bristles on it into his mouth and started moving it back and forth but his attention was mostly focused on the other boy's back. He had never seen so many scars on one person before, let alone on such a small area. What was worse that several of the scars were faded, indicating that they were years old. Some of the scars looked to be lashes while others looked like burns. Big burns too. Like someone had taken a red hot frying pan and held it to the boys back for several minutes. Draco's blood boiled but he kept his mouth shut. He knew Severus' medical exam would have picked them up and he would have words with his godfather later.

"You know," Harry said as he rinsed out his mouth and spread something on his hands. Draco had no idea what it was but it was a mild gel. Harry had learned that if he used just a small amount it would tame his hair. He ran his hands through his hair on the side of his head and his birds nest quickly tamed and looked far more styled and pleasing. "It's rather rude to stare at someone when they're in the bathroom."

"I wasn't staring." Draco denied even as his cheeks flared red in embarrassment and he quickly looked away. "I'm going to go wait in the common room."

Harry snickered as the other boy made a quick escape. The blond was too easy to tease at this point in time, when war had not hardened them all. Harry was actually beginning to think he might enjoy himself without the war hanging over his head. That was, if the rest of the world decided to piss off and leave him alone (which he seriously doubted). Clearing his thoughts with a slight mental shake, Harry made sure his hair had dried before throwing on his shirt and school uniform. Making a quick trip back to his room, Harry slipped on some socks and his shoes, grabbed the list of potions he had made for Severus, and went out into the common room. He did not stop for Draco and quickly left the dorms for the Great Hall. If he was going to be up this early, he was damn well going to have a strong cup of tea along with a good breakfast.

"I still don't understand what possessed you to get up this early." Harry nearly snarled. He was always cranky before he had his morning tea. It had become a slight running joke among him, Hermione, and their allies that he was worse than Voldemort if he didn't have his morning tea. "Even the sun isn't up all the way yet."

"Slytherins always do things before everyone else," Draco said, a hint of recitation and pride in his voice. Harry rolled his eyes. He had heard that before. _Several _times.

"There's a difference between doing something before everyone else and getting up ungodly early when it is entirely unnecessary." Harry retorted with a snort after taking several draws on his black tea. Some of the tension drained from his shoulders and face. "Haven't you ever just slept in before."

"Slept in?" Draco echoed in mild disbelief, glancing up from his own tea to stare incredulously at Harry. Food had yet to appear on the table, it _was _early after all and the hall was entirely empty save for them. "My father would have my head if I ever attempted to sleep past six or even five."

"Mmmm," Harry said as rapped the table twice, eliciting a start from Draco as a small selection of food appeared in front of them. The blond stared at him suspiciously before hesitantly loading a plate with food. "He would."

The casual agreement caused Draco to once again pause and stare at the other boy in confused speculation. Unbeknownst to the blond, Harry had first had experience on just what Lucius Malfoy was like as a human being. He had been captured quite a few times by Voldemort's minions and had been subjected to several rounds of torture (among other things) and Lucius had been present one time. The torture at his hand had been especially brutal, leaving Harry weak, bloody, and near death. Thankfully, after his first capture and subsequent escape, Harry had worked out an effective system in which to alert his allies and escape.

"You don't even know my father." Draco pointed out, carefully watching Harry's movements for signs or hints. There weren't any. Harry's movements were lithe and smooth as he fixed his plate, giving nothing away. "How would you know what his reaction would be?"

"I was being sarcastic Draco." Harry said as he drained the last of his tea and poured himself a glass of milk. "And I've read a few stories in the _Prophet _about your father, though I make a habit of taking what that rag reports with half a ton of salt and about four shots of tequila. Otherwise the paper is complete rubbish."

"What's tequila?" Draco questioned in confusion, forgoing most of what Harry had said in lieu of the strange word Harry had used that he had never heard of before.

"It's a type of alcohol." Harry said, almost dismissively as he dug into his ham, cheese, and tomato omelet, hash browns and fresh fruit. "And before you say it, no I have not had any I was merely being facetious." Harry heard an audible click as the blond snapped his mouth shut, it having been open to make a disparaging comment about Harry drinking alcohol so young.

"You're very strange." Draco finally admired after a long silence, in which students finally started filtering into the hall at a very slow rate.

"Oh, you have no idea." Harry said with a knowing smirk as he looked up and scanned the crowd. Spotting someone, Harry said, "Excuse me." and quickly trotted off to the other side of the hall. "Morning Hermione." He greeted the bushy haired girl as she sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, hi Harry," Hermione said, slightly startled by the other boy's presence as he sat down right next to her. "How was your first night?"

"It was pretty good," Harry said as he stole piece of toast off the table and lathered it in butter and jelly. He had finished his meal seconds before Hermione had walked into the hall but he had not had a chance for toast. "Professor Snape came into the dorms an hour or so after we picked our rooms and settled in. Gave us a long speech about what it was like to be in Slytherin and what to expect from the other houses. Apparently we're not well liked for some reason. He also told us that he'd be spending about two hours every other evening in the common room to help us with anything we need. Quite nice really." Harry deliberately left out the part about the medical exam. There was no reason she needed to know about that. "Yours?"

"It was alright." Hermione said with a thoughtful frown on her face. "I wonder though, why our head of house did not do something similar. You'd think she'd want to make it known that she's there to help her students."

"I dunno," Harry shrugged. He had wondered the same himself many times in the past. "Maybe she assumes that her students already know that she's there and feels no need to state the fact to her younger students. Did anything interesting happen last night? First days of school are usually pretty boring but I've never been to a boarding school before." He did his best to sound nonchalant and succeeded quiet well but his real purpose in asking the question was to, obviously, gather information. He wanted to know the dynamics of the shifts taking place. With him not in Gryffindor, he was not close enough to the epicenter of the usually volatile house.

"Actually, there was." Hermione said with a deep frown on her face, pausing with a spoon full of porridge half way to her mouth. "A boy, I think his name is Ron Weasley, started throwing a fit for some reason and all because you had been sorted into Slytherin. He started going on about how you were going dark or something. It got to the point where a Prefect had to step in and threaten to take him to Professor McGonagall so she could assign a detention and send out a letter to his mum."

"What nonsense," Harry retorted with a snort and shake of his head. "I'm only eleven and was raised by muggles for the past ten years. How in the world would I be going 'dark'?"

"I'm not even sure I know what he meant by that. 'Going dark.' Does he mean turning bad or something?" Hermione questioned in confusion, conveniently overlooking the fact that Harry was supposed to be about as knowledgeable as she was about the wizarding world.

"Pretty much," Harry said with a shrug as he poured a glass of orange juice to go with his toast. "There's a stereotype about Slytherin House that basically says every witch and wizard that goes into the house will turn evil and start terrorizing the world, killing and maiming just about everyone and everything in sight."

"Oh what rubbish!" Hermione said looking scandalized. "There must have been thousands of students in Slytherin over the years and there have only been a handful of Dark Lords over the years, only two of which were actually in Slytherin."

"And just what history text have you been reading?" Harry inquired with a raised eyebrow. He knew for a fact that Hogwarts A History had no such details in its pages. You could only find such things in one of the more advanced history texts that detailed the darker side of wizarding history, texts that weren't on the Hogwarts curriculum.

"My mom and I both wanted to know more about the magical world," Hermione defended herself to Harry's shocked and disbelieving look. "So when we bought my supplies she allowed me to get a few other books on the history of the magical world."

"Oh so I was right. You do like books." Harry teased with an amused smile on his face. Hermione blushed even as she scowled and swatted Harry on the shoulder. He broke down in giggles that caused several people in the hall to look his way.

"What is that _snake _doing at our table?" Weasley's voice sounded, causing Harry to freeze and his face turned into a blank, stone mask. Hermione marveled at the lightning change in her friends face and how his eyes seemed to burn with the fire from a thousand furnaces.

"Visiting with my friend," Harry said in a surprisingly neutral voice that was directly contradiction to the tension Hermione could feel coming off the small frame. Hermione also noted the fact that his eyes were glued on the table in front of him as opposed to looking at the boy he was speaking with. "Much as I surmise you would do with yours."

"No you're not!" Weasley practically shouted, gaining the attention of the entire hall, which happened to be almost everyone by that time. "You're just trying to corrupt her, turn her into one of your minions! Go away!"

"I thank you not to tell me who my friends are or are not." Hermione said an edge of anger creeping into her voice, causing Weasley to look at her. Something akin to concern seemed to flash through his eyes.

"He's already snared you Hermione but it's not too late." Weasley said in what he probably thought was a concerned tone but was really more along the lines of condescending and arrogant. "You can fight it. It's all about will. You just have to fight the spell he has you under." Harry was impressed in spite of himself. He did not think that the fool knew about such complex spells like compulsion spells at this point in time.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall's voice sounded behind Weasley, drawing everyone's attention and causing the redhead to spin around alarmingly fast.

"Apparently Weasley seems to think I have my friend Hermione under some sort of spell." Harry explained before Weasley could so much as blink let alone open his mouth. "Even though I have been raised by muggles for the past ten years and know absolutely no spells aside from what I have read in my text books."

"Mr. Weasley," McGonagall sounded highly exasperated as she stared down at the now slightly nervous looking Gryffindor. "If you do not gain control over both your imagination and your tongue you will be serving detention with Professor Snape every night for the next month. Now, go sit down before I dock points and start Gryffindor off in the negative this year." The cowed redhead quickly scampered off under the angry glares of his housemates. "Mr. Potter. I suggest you return to your own table lest you miss Professor Snape handing out the time tables for your classes." Harry glanced over his shoulder and saw that Severus was indeed heading towards Slytherin table with a handful of papers.

"Thank you Professor." Harry said as he stood up. "See you later Hermione." Without appearing as if he was running, Harry quickly made his way back across the hall and sat back down in his spot next to Draco, who had a slightly aghast look on his face, along with several other members of his house. "What?" He questioned pointedly with a raised eyebrow, a look that was daring anyone to speak out against his proclaimed friendship with a Gryffindor.

"Nothing," Draco said with an almost unnoticeable hitch to his voice that Harry was certain only he had noticed. Harry had delivered that look to him once before, on the train ride and to be frank it scared Draco worse than some of the looks he had received from his parents. Even his mother's, which had been particularly potent. "I'm just surprised McGonagall took your side is all. She's rather notorious for favoring her own house in such squabbles."

"Oh, well I'm sure things probably would have been different if the hot headed prick had been able to speak." Harry said as he took his time table and simultaneously handing Severus his list of potions. The man hadn't missed a beat, taking the slip with as much discretion as Harry had handed it to him and moved on down the table. "Not to mention I had the backing of another of her students and she had heard most of the drivel the fool had spouted."

"Mr. Potter." Severus said a few minutes later when Harry had started in on another cup of tea and was listening to the idle chatter around him. Draco had fallen into his own quiet state next to Harry, quietly observing the dark haired youth and searching out minute facts and details. "As you have almost a full hour before your first class and have finished breakfast already, please accompany me. The Headmaster wishes to see you."

"Oh good. I want to see him too." Harry said, startling most of the students around him along with Severus. Everyone eyed the boy as if he had grown a second head.

Severus stared after the son of his childhood rival as the boy got out of his seat and made towards the entrance hall, pausing at the doorway and turning to look at Severus. Realizing that he had been staring and that the boy was waiting for him, Severus snapped out of his thoughts and glided across the hall. The boy had continued before Severus had fully caught up and this merely caused the Potion Master's eyes to narrow in suspicion.

_How does the boy know where he's going? _Severus thought to himself as he fought, actually _fought_ to keep up with the fast paced youth who appeared to know more short cuts than he did. _It is almost as if he has lived in the castle for years. Something is very off with the boy._ A slight coughing sound drew Severus out of his thoughts and he found himself staring at the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. Potter was waiting patiently by his side and was looking between him and the statue. Realizing the boy did not know the password, Severus leaned forward and quietly whispered 'cherry toffee' the words burning his tongue.

Potter moved the moment the statue did and stepped forward onto the moving staircase and rode it up, appearing nothing more than a calm, collected Slytherin about to cow someone into doing what they wanted. Curious, Severus quickly stepped up behind the boy and into the staircase. As they rode the staircase, Severus noted how Potter seemed entirely unconcerned with the staircase. Most of the time when a first year was brought up here, which was rare, they always marveled at the magnificence and the magic of the moving stairs. Potter almost appeared bored.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Severus opened the door. He was about to announce that he had brought the boy to see Dumbledore as requested but his mouth snapped shut as Potter stalked into the room as if he owned the place, his robes billowing about him much in the same manner that his own did. He knew that to be impossible since he had tailor made a spell to get his robes to do that. Fascinated, Severus watched as the boy stalked right up to the Headmaster's desk and stared at the startled old man.

"I expect him released in twenty-four hours." Harry stated as he pulled something out of his robes and placed it in front of Dumbledore, who had grown very pale when he saw what exactly the boy had laid before him. "And I expect everything else in their will executed by the end of the week. If Sirius is not freed by this time tomorrow, I will be going straight to the Ministry to have you arrested on several different charges the worst of which is child endangerment. _Knowing_ child endangerment. Your clock is ticking." Harry spun on his heel and stalked out of the room. Halfway there, he paused and looked over his shoulder. "For the record Albus, that is one of several copies they had printed and that are in my possession."

If it were possible, Dumbledore grew even paler as he watched the boy walk from his office. Severus, in a state of shock as well, stared at the retreating form of Potter, who quickly disappeared down the moving staircase. As everything that had just happened processed through his stunned brain, Severus turned from the now empty hallway to stare at Dumbledore, who was still sitting in his chair, denial at the situation evident on his face.

"_Knowing_ child endangerment?" Severus repeated Potter's words. The slight flinch the Headmaster gave was answer enough. Severus scowled and left the Headmaster to clean up his own mess.

–Scene Break–

"So what did the Headmaster want?" Draco asked as he met up with Harry outside the transfiguration classroom and started filing in, picking seats near the middle front.

"No idea," Harry said as he paused in pulling out his text, parchment, quill and ink. He shrugged and then continued with what he had been doing. "I suppose I should have asked."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, confused at the boy's seemingly fractured statement. He was quickly becoming used to the fact that the other boy was going to be about as sensible as mud. It was not something he was happy about but he could at least learn to work with it.

"Well I didn't really give him a chance to speak." Harry explained as he meticulously arranged things on the desk in front of him, his side anyways. He and Draco were sitting at the same desk.

"What did you do?" Draco said in an almost awed voice. He listened in amazement as Harry recited the story. It was tailored, obviously so, but it was still astounding to learn that an eleven year old first year student had browbeaten the most prestigious Headmaster of the age. He would have commented beyond a wide eyed stare but McGonagall had come in right on the end of Harry's tale and started the lesson.

All throughout the lesson McGonagall was giving, which consisted of an hour long lecture and then half an hour of a practical attempt (which only Hermione and Harry had accomplished), Draco was silently contemplating the ever growing enigma sitting next to him. Like the rest of the wizarding world Draco had grown up with stories of the Boy-Who-Lived, though they were much different from some of the stories everyone else told. His father, being the Death Eater that he was, spun a much different tale of the boy. He had made it sound like the Dark Lord was the hero, the wizard that would lead the Wizarding World into a bright new era that was free of the horrid muggle influence, and painted Harry Potter as the evil one who had destroyed all that.

When he was just a boy, Draco had been enraptured by the tales, fascinated by the fact that he was related to a man that had served someone who tried to better their world. Then his mother had intervened. Narcissa had never approved of the Dark Lord or Lucius' service to the maniac and did not want her son falling into that same trap. So, she had taken Draco aside one day when Lucius had been away at the Ministry and told him the truth of the matter. She told him a very different version of events that had haunted Draco's dreams for weeks.

At first, he had protested, throwing a fit and not believing that his father could have committed such horrendous acts but when his mother had shown him the list of casualties, several news articles, and a few history text the blond could no longer deny the truth. All the evidence had been before him and entirely irrefutable.

"_Our world, all the wizards and witches," _his mother had said in a sad and pain filled voice. _"All of them, even those that served the Dark Lord, all suffered at his hand. He did not just slaughter muggles during his reign, nor even mudbloods. Dozens upon dozens of purebloods fell to his wand simply because they did not share his beliefs. They had not opposed him, either directly or indirectly, but they died all the same simply because they refused to serve him. That is not a man to be proud of Draco. That is a man to fear. Don't let your father's lies taint your ears."_

It had been painful to accept but in the end, Draco had no choice but to agree with his mother. As such, he had come to Hogwarts, expecting to see the Boy-Who-Live, expecting someone that had been just as spoiled as he was with just as much expensive stuff. What he had found was not expected and highly conflicting. He had not noticed during their first meeting on the train but saw it later while the boy had been sitting under the Sorting Hat. Harry was dangerously thin. So much so that if you looked closely you could see his spin at the base of his neck. He appeared to have several weeks of solid food in his system but that was beside the point.

As if to contradict that fact, Harry carried himself with expert precision. He did not make a move that was unnecessary or inexact. His quill moved across his parchment as he took notes in a flowing, slanted, elegant script and at such speed that Draco had to wonder how anything human could move at such speeds and not make a mess of both their writing and their surroundings. Then there was the way the other boy ate. Well balanced meals with almost no sweets or unhealthy food. It was as if the boy was a fifty year old man who had just received some bad information from his healer.

To top it off, the way the boy acted was a contradiction in itself. It was like Harry had multiple personalities and you never knew what you were going to get from one second to the next. There were times when Harry seemed to be carefree and childish, just like every other eleven year old in the school, and there were others, like with what happened with Weasley that morning, when he seemed beyond his years, as if he was old, gray, and had seen and experienced horrors that other people could only scarcely imagine. Things that no one, no child or adult, ever wanted to see.

"Are you coming Draco?" Harry asked suddenly, yanking the blond from his deep thoughts. "Or are you going to sit there all day trying to figure me out?"

"How do you do that?" Draco demanded as he stood up and followed Harry from the room. Transfiguration had evidently ended some minutes ago and they were the last two to leave. "How do you seem to pinpoint exactly what other people are thinking and turn it against them?"

"Long standing habit of mine," Harry said with a smirk as he led the way down to the dungeons where their first potions class was taking place. "Keeps people off guard and gets a little more honesty out of someone."

"I guess the hat new what it was doing." A new voice sounded, one that had quite obviously been eavesdropping. Harry didn't have to turn around to see who it was, having recognized the voice from his first time around. "You really do belong in Slytherin don't you Potter?"

"I should say so Zabini," Harry said with a smirk as he glanced over his shoulder at the dark Italian boy. "Few people are as cunning as that and aren't put into the snake house."

"That's insulting!" Another voice said. This one Harry recognized as Pansy Parkinson. "No one is as cunning as a Slytherin."

"Oh you would be surprised at what people can do when they really put themselves into a project." Harry countered, grinning slightly at the thought of some of the things he had pulled as a Gryffindor. He could not state it out right to other people but he still found it amusing. "They can be quite resourceful and tricky."

Pansy sniffed disdainfully. "I'll believe that when I see it."

_Hopefully you won't. _Harry thought silently. _If I have my way, no one will._ Unbidden memories of the previous time line flashed through his mind. Memories of strategy meetings, of war councils, all of which contained people trying to plot the best way to take down the other side. People, some much younger than seventeen, all bickering about methods of how to get into an enemy encampment. There had only been a few Slytherins in the room, Severus and Draco namely, but almost everyone else had been from a different house, though by that time people had stopped caring about things like that.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class." Severus said as he came striding into the room with his robes billowing about him. Harry smirked. The Potions Master had taught him that spell one day when Harry had bitched one too many times about his robes constantly getting in his way when he walked or was in the midst of battle. It was specially designed to prevent the robes from hindering the wearer's movements.

Harry listened with some slight amusement to Severus' well-polished speech. Last time he had been too young, new, and intimidated by everything to really appreciate what the man had been saying but now, after all his experience and years, Harry could only grin. Once they had moved past their grudge, Harry and Severus had sat down and talked at length about the finer mechanics of brewing. Usually, Harry would ask question after question and Severus would patiently and politely explain things, especially after Harry had explained that no matter how hard he read a book he could not understand the working mechanics of potion making.

"Mr. Weasley," Severus practically purred and Harry's grin morphed into one of more vicious amusement. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"I-I-I-" Weasley stuttered, completely caught off guard. He stared up at Severus with wide, fearful eyes, like a fly caught in a spider's web.

_Don't laugh you ninny! _Harry screamed at himself as he bit down hard on his tongue to keep himself from laughing hysterically. The simile his brain had made up was just too amusing when one considered the fact that the Weasley prat was absolutely terrified of spiders.

"Let's try again shall we Mr. Weasley?" Severus said, causing the red head to pale even more. "Where would you find a Bezoar?" Again the boy stuttered and failed to provide an answer. "One last time then, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" By now, Harry was digging his fingernails into his thigh in an attempt to keep himself from laughing. He was also looking off to the side in an effort to keep a straight face. "Five points from Gryffindor for coming to class unprepared." Severus said when the boy failed yet again. "Since you seem to find this all highly entertaining Mr. Potter, perhaps you can regale us with the answers to these questions?"

"The Draught of Living Death, the belly of a goat, and nothing. They're the same plant, also known as aconite." Harry said, proud of himself for managing a straight voice that did not break out into snickers as he continued to entertain the image of Weasley being stuck in a spider web as Aragog approached and started spinning the boy up in his web. It was remarkably helpful to keep himself from hexing the redhead five ways to next Sunday.

"Five points to Slytherin for proper study habits." Severus said as he stared at Harry with a calculating eye. Harry sensed an approaching touch of Legilimency and was about to prepare a rather unsavory greeting for the Professor for daring to touch his mind. Surprisingly, the probe stopped before it even reached Harry's mind and quickly backed off. "Well? Why aren't any of you writing this down?" the sudden snap of his voice got the rest of the class scrambling to obey. Severus stared at Harry for a moment longer before whirling around and waving his wand at the board. "You will brew this potion by the end of class."

Harry, not needing to take notes, took out his cauldron and started setting things up and fetching ingredients, all under the speculative gaze of the potions master. Harry did not mind the scrutiny. He knew he was acting very differently from the way people expected him to be acting and was likely causing more than a few headaches. Honestly he did not much care at the moment. He was not doing anything that would destabilize the flow of time or whatever so he was not going to change the way he acted to please people. By virtue of existing as he was, the time line had already changed so it wasn't like he was hurting anything or anyone by being himself.

"So what was so funny?" Draco questioned when he had finished his own notes and started helping Harry prepare the ingredients needed for the boil cure potion they were making. "I find the torture of hapless Gryffindors amusing as any other Slytherin but I didn't find it _that _amusing."

"No it wasn't." Harry agreed as he lit a fire under the cauldron and started stirring in the ingredients in the right order. "It was the way he looked. Like a fly caught in a spider's web."

"I still don't understand." Draco said hesitantly.

"Weasley is petrified of spiders." Harry explained quietly. "My mind was entertaining various scenarios that involved him being trapped in a sticky web."

"How on earth do you know what _Weasley _is afraid of?" Draco asked as he looked up from the cauldron to the other boy in complete shock, though his mouth twitched slightly as he easily followed along Harry's line of imagination.

"Shadows have ears." Was all Harry said, to the blond's complete agitation and confusion.

"You're annoying." Draco said after several attempts to get Harry to elaborate.

"I know." Harry said as he remembered something and looked up. Just in time to.

Neville Longbottom, Nervous Nelly that he was, was about to add the porcupine needles with the flame still going under his cauldron. Not wanting a repeat of history, Harry winked with his right eye and the other boy's cauldron, flame and all, moved out of reach, causing Neville to drop the needles onto the table. Another wink had Neville's book moving over the needles and flapping slightly to get the nervous Gryffindor's attention. A third wink had a specific line of the text highlighted ever so slightly. The other boy paled and quickly turned off the fire before picking up the needles and pouring them into the cauldron.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Severus had witnessed the entire exchange. He had just completed a circuit around the room, inspecting potions and insulting various students about their inability to follow simple directions (this was done mostly to the Gryffindors, the Slytherins he commented quietly to and coached through the process) and had seen the mistake Longbottom had been about to make. He was seconds away from interfering when he stopped in shock as the nervous Gryffindor's stuff had started acting the way they had. Looking wildly, for him, around the room, Severus hunted for the person responsible for the avoided mishap.

He searched the entire conglomerate of Gryffindors, believing that it was one of them that was attempting to spare their house the fury of the dreaded Potions Professor. Seeing no one on that side of the room that was not focusing on their potion, Severus turned and looked towards his snakes. Everyone on that side of the room was either wrapping up their brews or quickly approaching the last steps. Everyone that is, except for Draco and Potter. Their potion was finished with a clean work station, bottled sample, and both were sitting quietly, chatting amiably. Potter, however, kept sliding glances towards the Gryffindor side of the room, as if he were monitoring them for some reason. Severus followed his line of sight twice, each time leading to a different person. The first being none other than Longbottom and the second being Ms. Granger. Granger he understood, he had seen the two socializing that morning at breakfast. Longbottom on the other hand, had no known interaction with Potter.

"By now, your potions should be complete," Severus said several minutes later when it was nearing the end of class, startling most of the students. "Bottle a sample and bring it up to my desk. When you have cleaned your work station you may leave." Severus watched the students rush to obey, several spilling some of their potion in their haste to bottle the liquid so they could leave. "Potter." He called before the boy could sedately walk out the door, being the first one done he had walked up with their sample and was headed straight for the door since his station was already clean. "Remain behind. I wish to have a private word."

"Yes Professor," Harry agree with a slightly put upon sigh. He was hungry but he could wait. Hopefully the conversation would not be too lengthy. Draco attempted to remain behind as well but a stern glare from Severus had him sighing and leaving the room with a promise to save Harry a seat. It seemed to take forever but the rest of the students finally finished up and left the room, leaving him with Severus.

"While I appreciate you sparing me an exploded cauldron I would like to inquire as to how you did what you did." Severus stated, starting off with something slightly innocuous as it was not a primary reason why he had held Harry back.

"What are you talking about sir?" Harry said in a remarkably childish voice as he cocked his head to the side and adopted a very convincing expression of confusion. Severus was tempted to buy it if it were not the amused light dancing in the boy's eyes. "I'm just a first year. I barely managed to follow the directions for the potion. Potions seem very complicated to me."

"While you appear to be an expert liar Potter, I am certain it was you that averted the explosion of Longbottom's cauldron." Severus responded in a neutral voice, though he had a slight glare on his face. To his surprise, the boy seemed wholly unaffected, though he did drop the facade. "However, I will not press for answers at the moment. I will, however, assign you as Longbottom's partner for the year."

"That's fine by me Professor," Harry said with a slight smile on his face and an almost eager look in his eye. "I haven't been introduced to him yet but he seems like a really nice person."

"Be that as it may," Severus continued before Harry could either ask if they were finished. "That is not the only reason I wished to speak to you. I have read over the list of potions you gave me this morning. I approve of them all but there are a few that I have added as I believe your... physician might have missed a few things in his or hers scans."

"And what would that be?" Harry asked as he accepted the small piece of parchment. His straightforward and business like tone seemed to startle the other man for there was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"Your ability to grow has been severely hindered," Severus said plainly, figuring the boy could handle the news since he seemed to be handling everything else fairly well. "These potions will help promote bone health and an overall cellular health that will, over time, bring you up to an average height for your age."

"Huh," Harry said in a slightly perplexed tone. "I always thought I was just short."

"No," Severus said in a matter-of-fact tone. He noted and cataloged Harry's choice of wording for later consideration. "There is, in fact, a toxin in your body that has apparently been there for some time and while it is not detrimental to your health, it is causing specific cell damage and is inhibiting your ability to grow properly. The potions I have added will remedy that. I am actually surprised that your caregiver missed something like this."

"I'm not," Harry said offhandedly as continued to examine the potions Severus had added to the list. There weren't many but they were relatively complicated ones and had a fair amount of side effects. "The scan they did was geared towards major issues and while this is a fair sized issue, the other stuff was more concerning, especially since there was so much. It's not surprising that it got lost amongst the mess. I was actually due for another scan when you so kindly provided one."

"Hmmm, yes, well," Severus seemed decidedly flustered and Harry had a hard time of keeping a straight face. It was so rare to catch the man off guard. "These potions will more than likely make you feel as if you have an abundance of energy. I advise that, despite this, you refrain from trying to expend it as it will defeat the purpose of taking them. I have taken the liberty of having a house elf add the potions next to the ones you already have."

"Thank you Professor," Harry said, finally rolling up the parchment and stuffing into a robe pocket. "Was that all Professor? I'm quite hungry."

"You may go." Severus said with a nod and watched as the boy all but vanished from the spot he had been standing in. If the door had not clicked shut behind him and if he had not known such a thing were impossible, Severus would have sworn the boy had Apparated out of the room.

Harry quickly traversed the halls of the dungeon corridors until he managed to reach the main level and then into the Great Hall. Not particularly noticing anything out of the ordinary, Harry made straight for the Slytherin table and started piling food onto his plate. His stomach was protesting painfully and Harry had to end up stuffing a few pieces into his mouth as he loaded just to get it to calm. He noticed that the other Slytherins, particularly Draco, were watching his antics with mild interest or disgust, but Harry did not particularly care. He was famished and while he imitated Weasley fairly well, he at least had enough manners to appear as if he was not using a backhoe to shove food into his mouth.

It was when he half way through with his meal, on his third piece of garlic bread, and fifth glass of water, when Harry finally slowed and managed to notice something was off in the hall. There was a little extra noise in the hall than was usual for this time of day and everyone seemed a little over enthusiastic in their gestures and conversations. Harry attempted to eavesdrop on one conversation but it did not make a lick of sense, bouncing between random topics had always been too painful for him to follow. Noticing the _Prophet_ next to his plate that he had completely missed in his dash for food, Harry quickly unfurled it and looked at the headline, what he presumed to be working everyone up into a frenzy.

"Well," Harry said with a raised eyebrow as his brain finally processed what his eyes were telling him. "That was fast." Harry looked up to the Head Table to see Dumbledore sitting there. The man looked properly chastised and highly hesitant to look in Harry's direction. However, after a few seconds he looked over at Harry and gave a slight nod before returning his attention elsewhere.

The article was about how the Potter's Will had suddenly turned up and while the contents were being kept strictly under lock and key, it had clearly stated who they had used as their Secret Keeper and who was to tend to Harry in the events of their deaths before his majority. It then went on to detail how after the will had been discovered, Sirius had been promptly (and likely rather unceremoniously) dragged from Azkaban and given an impromptu trial with a full dose of Veritaserum. Truths had been revealed, lies uncovered, and realization that they had unlawfully sent an innocent man to prison for ten years without so much as a by your leave.

Naturally, the Ministry had panicked, as it always does, and enthusiastically set things into the over correction column of things. A few signatures later had Sirius Black fully reinstated as a well-respected member of society, his record completely expunged, a generous financial compensation, and was granted full custody of Harry Potter before being given back his wand and set loose on the world once again. Harry had no doubt that Sirius' head was well and truly spinning by now and he could just imagine the man standing outside the Ministry with a stunned expression and blinking rapidly several times.

"I suppose I should send him a note." Harry mused with a thoughtful frown on his face. He had thought fairly far a head in his little plan but one little detail he had neglected to tend to was exactly how he was going to get Sirius to the small flat he had arranged specifically for the ex con in the same building as his own bachelor pad, a few doors down in fact.

"Send who a note Harry?" Draco questioned in a strange voice, one that Harry was beginning to associate with an 'I'm-Thinking-Hard-And-Am-Trying-To-Figure-You-Out ' voice.

"Sirius Black," Harry deadpanned with a small shrug as he pulled out a small note pad he usually kept with him and a muggle pen and started writing down detailed instructions, with a friendly greeting of course and an offer to explain things at Christmas when he would be returning for the Holidays. As if sensing she was going to be needed, Hedwig came flapping into the hall from the dungeons and landed lightly on the table in front of Harry. Smiling, he fed her a bit of bacon and finished his note.

"Why would you be sending a letter to a man you don't even know?" Draco questioned, confused as hell about the entire scenario.

"Draco," Harry said plainly as he rolled up the flimsy paper, tied it with the string that had been holding the _Daily Prophet _together and then tying it to Hedwig's leg before allowing her to use him as a launch pad. "You really do assume far too much for your own good and infer way beyond the norm when it comes to your daily conversations and interactions."

"And exactly what have I been assuming and inferring?" Draco questioned, a hint of challenge in his voice as he watched Harry finish his meal before grabbing his bag and standing up.

"Most recently that I don't know Sirius." Harry said as he started walking away, forcing Draco out of his seat in order to keep listening. "At the moment I do not have another example and unless you plan on accompanying me into a bathroom stall I suggest you finish your lunch." That froze Draco in his tracks and he watched in stunned amazement mixed with slight amusement as Harry walked out of the hall towards the nearest boy's restroom.

–Scene Break–

Sirius Black was wondering the streets of London a few blocks from the Ministry of Magic in a complete and utter daze. Just a few short hours ago he had been rotting away in a cell in Azkaban, trying desperately to cling to his sanity and what few happy memories the dementors did not rip from his mind. Then, quite suddenly and rather rudely, he was being dragged from his cell, stuffed onto a boat and then portkeyed to the Ministry, the private office of the Minister for Magic to be exact.

A dose of Veritaserum later and faster than you could say 'Bob's your uncle' he was standing on the streets, wand in hand, and a copy of his full pardon. It was all quite disorienting and he did not know whether or not to believe that this was real or some strange hallucination brought on by the dementors and his loss of sanity. Seeking familiar sights, Sirius had wandered off down the streets, flinching slightly at the unexpected loud noises of the occasional car honking or tires screeching.

Eventually, Sirius managed to make his way to the Leaky Cauldron. As it was still early the pub was blissfully silent compared to the constant buzz of the loud metropolis just outside its door. Tom, great man that he was, merely took one look at the disheveled and still dazed man that had walked in and ushered him over to a quiet, dark corner and brought out some tea, which he had mixed with a mild calming draught. Gradually the time started ticking by and bit by bit Sirius began to come to terms and understand the fact that he was well and truly free.

A few hours after noon, right around when one would start to consider it evening as opposed to afternoon, a beautiful snowy white owl came gliding in through the door just as someone entered the pub from Diagon Alley. Surprising what little sense he had managed to gain out of him, the owl alighted upon his table and hooted softly in greeting as it stuck out one of its legs. Sirius merely stared at the bird, not understanding how someone could be writing him so soon after he had been released. The owl appeared to be undemanding and oddly understanding as it simply stood there on one leg staring back at Sirius with kind, golden eyes.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sirius slowly moved forward and untied the small rolled up note from her leg. The owl hooted softly again and started picking at the remains of Sirius biscuits.

_Sirius,_ the unfamiliar yet oddly elegant scrawl started.

_First off let me introduce you to my owl, Hedwig. She is a very friendly and highly intelligent owl. Now, down to business. I'm sure you have a lot of questions but for now they will have to wait as I am otherwise engaged. Suffice it to say that I am the one who facilitated your freedom. I had thought of doing this myself but I wanted you freed as soon as possible and I do not have the clout to do such a thing on my own yet. Since this letter will likely find you still in a state of shock, I will keep it brief. I have set up an apartment for you to stay at in muggle London a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron. Instructions on how to get there are on the reverse side of this paper._

Sirius paused to flip the paper over and saw there were indeed detailed instructions that started at the Leaky Cauldron.

_If you have issues Hedwig can help you along as she knows where the place is located. It is fully stocked with everything you need from food to toiletries. I even took the liberty of purchasing you some proper clothing, as I doubt the Ministry will provide such things for you. You may stay there as long as you wish. I have also instructed Hedwig to remain with you should you desire to send me anything. She will only take letters to me though so if you have a desire to send something to someone else you need to find or use a different owl._

_I bid you congratulations on your freedom and a quick recovery from the hell of Azkaban._

_Sincerely,_

_HJP_

Sirius raised his eyebrows at the initials. He could think of only one person with those initials but it was entirely impossible for it to be _Harry_ of all people that had broken him out of prison. The boy was only eleven and should just be starting Hogwarts and would very likely not remember Sirius at all, except maybe in his dreams. Even if Harry had heard of Sirius, he would likely think that he had betrayed his parents and the boy himself to Voldemort and would likely be completely closed off to the idea of associating with Sirius. As such, Sirius could think of no one who would have those initials and would bother with trying to ensure his freedom.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Sirius gestured towards his shoulder and Hedwig happily flapped up to perch on his thin and boney shoulder. After a quick chat with Tom to come to an agreement about the costs he incurred, Sirius walked from the bar and started following the directions on the piece of paper down the street. Sirius got several strange looks from the crowds of muggles he passed through but he ignored them all in favor of trying to follow the directions on the piece of paper and keeping his mind from wandering too much.

Hedwig, as it turned out, was a godsend. Several times he had ended up missing his turn or not noticing that he was on the street he needed. Each time he received a soft hoot from the owl and a slight shift of her wing to point out where he needed to go or what he needed to notice. Eventually and without wavering too much from his path, Sirius finally managed to find the building he needed and entered. The doorman/security guard that was sitting behind his desk looked up when Sirius walked in, gave a curt nod of greeting, before lowering his head and going back to what appeared to be a book.

Continuing to follow the papers directions, Sirius went over to a cluster of metal doors and pressed the button with the up arrow. Sirius was actually beginning to really appreciate the note's directions. They took into consideration that the reader had no knowledge whatsoever of the muggle world and pointed out little things such as the name of the metal doors, the fact that he actually had to use his finger to press the button instead of just standing there, and the floor he needed. It took Sirius a minute to realize that he needed to press the button on the inside of the lift with the number he needed on it but he was soon rising through the floors of the muggle high rise.

The ding of the lift startled the ex-con just as it had when it arrived on the ground floor. Shaking his head, Sirius left the lift and started down the hallway in the direction indicated on the note and searched for the right apartment number. Throughout all of this, Sirius failed to notice that he did not have a key to get into his destination, something he realized only when he located the door and saw the locks. However, thanks again to the note, Sirius found out that there was a myriad of spells on the door and apartment and that the door would lock and unlock of its own accord and was registered to respond to his touch. So when he gripped the doorknob he heard several clicks and was allowed entry into a wonderful one bedroom apartment with a kitchen, living room, dining room, and sitting area. It really was more like a suite than an apartment but to Sirius it was a palace compared to Azkaban.

Hedwig flew off his shoulder once they were fully inside the apartment and glided towards a perch that had obviously been set up specifically for her. She drank from a water dish that had been attached to the perch and pecked at some of the food before tucking her head under her wing and promptly falling asleep. Figuring the owl had a long flight to get to him; Sirius shrugged and turned his attention towards the kitchen. True to his word, HJP had stuffed the kitchen full to the brim with everything. Pots, pans, skillets, food, food, and more food. Towels, cutlery, chopping blocks, cooking utensils, and dozens of other things that Sirius could not even name. There were obvious expansion charms on the place as he could see no backing to any of the cupboards that had the food in them.

His stomach grumbling greedily, Sirius set about to fix a feast to rival the elves work at Hogwarts.

–Scene Break–

Harry hummed idly to himself as he slowly stirred a simmering cauldron and added a few drops of Acromantula Venom. The potion started to bubble violently but the spells Harry had laid down, spells similar to his warding the room to give off a calming aura, directly around the cauldron, kept the thing from destroying half of Hogwarts. Harry frowned deeply as he considered the reaction of that particular ingredient to the brew. He would need something to settle the potion before it broke down. But what? His collection of potions ingredients was matched only by Severus so he had a wide variety to choose from. The problem was what could he add to the potion that would not completely derail what he was trying to do?

"Anything unicorn is out," Harry mused aloud to himself as he paced around his cauldron while staring into the brew. His hand was making an odd circular motion, as if it were cycling through a machine looking for something. "I doubt any sort of blood will do the trick. For that matter any sort of flesh is probably out of the question. Enter!" He called when there came a knock on his door. Not surprisingly, Draco was the one who poked his head around the door cautiously.

"What are you doing in here Harry?" Draco questioned as he unconsciously used the door as a shield. Ever since he had ended up on the wrong end of Harry's wand by sneaking into his room unannounced at the start of term, Draco had been very cautions when entering Harry's quarters. "Why aren't you headed up to the feast?"

"Brewing obviously," Harry said in answer to the first question as he continued pacing. "And I was planning on heading up in a minute once I settled this solution." That was a bit of a lie. He actually had not noticed that it was dinner time. "Nothing from anything with the name erupt or explode, obviously."

"Harry," Draco said in a frustrated tone that was lost on the other boy. "I like brewing as much as Severus but it's Halloween. Come on up to the feast."

"Moonstone!" Harry crowed delightfully as he rushed to his trunk and plucked a jar from inside and went back to the cauldron. "This should calm it right down." Harry took a pinch of moonstone powder and picked up his stirring spoon again and slowly started to sprinkle the powder over the roiling cauldron as he stirred. Gradually, the brew calmed back down to a very light simmer. Sighing happily, Harry laid his spoon off to the side again and activated the stasis charm part of his wards to keep the potion the way it was until he could tend to it once again. "I'm sorry Draco, what were you saying?"

"It's Halloween Harry," Draco veritably whined. "How can you be brewing when there are so many sweets waiting upstairs?"

"You know," Harry said with a chuckle as he gestured the blond out of his room and followed, leading the way out of the common room and up the stairs towards the Great Hall. "There are times when I swear you are nothing but a two year old."

"I am not!" Draco protested vehemently, then promptly blushed when Harry gave him a look that clearly stated his opinion on the blond's most recent outburst. "So, what are you brewing anyways? Professor Snape didn't assign us any homework that would require us to brew outside of class."

"No, he didn't." Harry agreed with a nod as he sat down at the Slytherin table and started putting together a plate of actual food, ignoring, for the moment, all the sweets. "I was working on my own concoction and the Professor would more than likely have my head if he knew what I've been mixing together."

It was true too. While Harry was not making any specifically Dark potion, his brew was highly dangerous and if it were not for the wards he had set up to control and contain the potion, it would have blown up three times over already. He was attempting to devise a way to destroy the Horcrux without an abundance of effort on his part. The last time around he had been forced to use dangerous spells or even more dangerous objects to destroy the few pieces of Voldemort's soul he had managed to find, all with dangerous after effects that harmed those around him and himself. It had got to the point where Harry had almost started to hope that he would not find any more Horcruxes.

"Which would be...?" Draco asked leadingly as he started in on his own meal.

"Oh a little of this and a little of that." Harry said with a shrug as he glanced up and surveyed the hall briefly. He started to take a bite of his food when he froze with his fork half way to his mouth.

Harry looked up at the hall again and focused his attention on the Gryffindor table. He scanned the table up and down with a careful eye, looking for the well-known head of bushy hair that was often more noticeable than the Weasley's fiery manes. Frowning, Harry locked his eyes onto Ronald Weasley and shamelessly and silently, dug his way into the boy's unguarded mind. He filtered through the various events of the day, hunting for a specific event. He found what he was looking for a short ways into the boy's mind. It was the event in Charms class. Harry had been in the class and while it had gone smoothly, it had not gone the way it had previously. Hermione sat next to Harry, ignoring Weasley, and they both cast the charm successfully before sitting back and calmly chatting with each other.

It was later, when Harry wasn't around, that something had happened. Weasley, arrogant fool that he was, had rounded on Hermione almost the minute Harry was gone and out of sight. He had yelled at her for falling for the Slytherin lies and being so weak. He practically demanded that she break off her friendship with Harry, that he – Harry – was nothing but a lying, backstabbing Slytherin that was going to destroy them all. Hermione, bless her, had stood up to the redhead, defended Harry and told Weasley that he did not even know Harry. The argument had heated up and they both had delved into insults. Finally, when Hermione had insulted the boy's intelligence and commented on how he could not cast a simple levitation spell, Weasley had snapped and slapped her across the face. The only reason the other boy had not been suspended right there was because there had been no one around, student, teacher, or painting.

"Dammit!" Harry snarled dangerously as he pulled a watch out of his pocket and checked the time. "I'll be right back."

Before anyone could protest, Harry rushed from the hall, causing more than one person to stare at him in curiosity, particularly Severus. The astute Potions Master had notice the bushy haired Gryffindor's absence as well but had simply written it off, figuring the girl was either late, in the bathroom, or off lost in her books. When he had returned his stare to his snakes, he saw how Harry had frozen and had looked back up and over towards the lion house. Severus saw how the boy meticulously scanned the table before cursing under his breath and checking his watch. The boy had cursed again before dashing from the hall.

His curiosity peeked, Severus contemplated going after the boy in an attempt to gain a few answers to some of his questions. He had just decided to go after the boy when Quirrell came dashing into the hall, looking as if he had run all the way up from Hogsmeade. His announcement of 'Troll' had incited panic in the entire student population before Dumbledore regained order. Confident that the other teachers would allow no harm to come to his snakes, no matter their beliefs, Severus ducked out the back door and headed for the third floor.

Harry quickly moved through the halls towards the girl's lavatory that he remembered from his first, first year at Hogwarts, wand in his hand and concealed within the folds of his robes. Just as he neared the bathroom, he saw the troll lumber its way down the hall towards his destination. Not wasting any time, Harry fired off an Expulso charm to get the things attention before it could smash through the door to the girl's lavatory. The spell struck the troll in the shoulder with enough force to make it stumble into the wall. It turned to face Harry, just in time to catch Harry's Bombarda full on in the face. The troll wailed briefly as it was slammed into the wall once again and falling unconscious as its head slammed painfully into the stone. Disregarding the unconscious creature, Harry strode forward towards the restroom door.

"Hermione!" Harry called through the door as he knocked loudly. "Hermione, it's Harry. Please come out."

"What was that noise?" Hermione asked as she slipped open the door and looked outside. "And what is THAT!" she screeched when she saw the unconscious troll.

"Troll," Harry said absently as he examined the girl before him. He noticed a sizable and rather prominent red hand print that took up most of the left side of her face. Being careful to keep his face neutral so he did not frighten Hermione, Harry held out his hand for her to take and led her around the stinking troll. "Come on, before it wakes. We have to go see Professor McGonagall."

"Why?" Hermione questioned as she skirted the troll, staring at it in shock and horror.

"Because Weasley crossed a line." Harry said flatly, not letting her hand go when she tried to pull away. "No. He crossed a line and will not be getting away with it. Either you tell her or I will."

"I was going to either way Harry." Hermione said a bit crossly as she pulled on her arm and forced Harry to turn and face her. "I was merely shocked. How did you know what happened? You weren't present when it happened."

"I–" Harry was cut off as the Professors rounded the corner. "Later." He hissed before turning his attention. "Before you ask we did not know it was in the castle. I left the feast to find Hermione when I heard she had been in a bathroom all afternoon crying." McGonagall snapped her mouth shut on whatever comments she was about to say when she saw the two of them.

"And why was Ms. Granger in the bathroom crying?" McGonagall inquired as Severus and Quirrell moved around the children to tend to the troll. Hermione leveled a glare at Harry for putting her on the spot like that but Harry merely stared back, not repentant in the slightest.

"I got into an argument with Weasley this afternoon after Charms Professor," Hermione said, some slight hesitation in her voice. Clearly she was nervous about telling the story, not to mention the wounds were still rather fresh in her mind, but a reassuring squeeze from Harry gave her the strength to divulge the entire tale. By the end, McGonagall was livid.

"Come with me Ms. Granger. Mr. Potter..." She was no doubt about to tell Harry to return to his common room but Harry leveled a look at her that had the words dying in her mouth. "You may accompany us as long as you behave." Harry's nod had her turning and striding down the hall.

"Mr. Potter," Severus called after a few steps. Harry looked over his shoulder. "You will be escorted back to the common room when you are finished."

"Yes Professor." Harry said before continuing after Hermione and McGonagall.

The three of them strode silently through the halls towards the Headmaster's office. Since Dumbledore was still out dealing with the Troll issue, the office was empty. McGonagall ordered them up and into the office and to wait her return with the Headmaster and Weasley. Harry was slightly annoyed by this as it would give Hermione ample time to grill him, but he went up the stairs nonetheless and entered the silent office and sat down in one of the gaudy chairs the old man kept for company and waited for the inquisition to start.

"I assure you that were we alone, you would have a lot of explaining to do mister." Hermione said, seeming to read Harry's thoughts. "And I expect the truth."

"Thank you for not pressing the matter when there are unwanted ears around." Harry said with a grateful smile. "It is not something that should be widely known. And to be frank I do not have all the facts myself."

"I swear Professor, I didn't have anything to do with a troll getting into the castle." Weasley's voice sounded from behind the thick door. The other boy sounded highly nervous.

"You are not here because of the troll Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore's voice sounded as the door opened to admit the trio. He sounded grave and not the least bit happy. Harry was also pleased to notice that the twinkle that usually shone in the Headmaster's eyes was very nearly nonexistent. "You are here because of an incident that occurred earlier in the day between you and Ms. Granger. Professor McGonagall, if you would please floo Molly."

"Yes, Headmaster." McGonagall said as she strode over to the fireplace and called out The Burrow as she threw in some floo powder.

"What are you doing here Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked in shock when he noticed Harry sitting in a chair, quiet as can be.

"Moral support." Harry answered simply. "Though I've no doubt Hermione can handle herself no matter the situation."

Harry smirked when Hermione huffed and he saw her blushing out of the corner of her eye. It quickly died however as he frowned when he noticed that despite her blush, the hand print was still very prominent. As they waited for McGonagall to finish with the floo call, Harry relaxed his eyesight into the magical spectrum. He had read of a spell some time ago, briefly mind you as he was fighting a war, that was generally used by witches to mark their husbands when they had done something incredibly stupid. It had been mostly used by purebloods, dark aligned purebloods since most everyone else thought the spell barbaric. Harry had no opinion either way, finding the spell entirely unhelpful in the war effort. However, he was not about to allow Hermione go about marked by a spell that Weasley likely had not even realized he used.

_Stupid prat_. Harry groused when he saw the faint traces of the spell clinging to Hermione's face.

Reaching out with his own magic, Harry gently picked at the base core of the spell, the keystone if you will, until the whole thing collapsed and fell away like water through a net. Satisfied, Harry reigned in his magic and flexed and relaxed his eyes until he could see properly again, just in time for Molly Weasley to come striding through the fireplace and into the office. She had quite obviously been expecting the twins since she came up short when she saw that it was her youngest son sitting nervously in an overstuffed chair.

"Ronald?" She said in shock, staring at her son as if she had never seen the boy before. "What on earth did you do to get sent to the Headmaster's office?"

"I'm afraid he struck Ms. Granger here Molly." Dumbledore said from his place behind his desk. "While scuffles may occur from time to time between students, this is a rather different case."

"I should say it is!" Molly said, already gathering steam and looking like a gathering firestorm. "I did not raise my son to strike_ anything _let alone girls!" She strode up to her son and got right in his face. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and her next words were quite possibly the most fearful Harry had ever heard come from her mouth as they were spoken in a near whisper. "You tell me just _what _you were thinking young man."

"I-I-she," Weasley stuttered, at a loss for words for several minutes before finally finding his voice. "She associates with Slytherins!" He had attempted to sound indignant or angry but the fear in his voice made him sound pathetic. "She was trying to say that Potter hadn't betrayed us all and wasn't going dark."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Molly said, her voice rising again as her face contorted into an angry glare.

"If I may," Harry interjected calmly from his place, drawing everyone's gaze. "He appears to think that just because I was sorted into Slytherin that I am now evil incarnate and am well on my way to becoming the next Dark Lord. He even believes that I have Hermione here under some sort of compulsion spell."

"You _WHAT_?" Molly roared in shock, rounding back on her son. Weasley seemed to shrink into his chair, which didn't last long as Molly reached out and grabbed a hold of his ear with every ounce of unbelieving, righteous fury she had to offer. "I'm assuming he's suspended Albus. You have my full backing to dole out whatever punishment you desire once I'm through with him." Not waiting for a response from anyone, Molly dragged her son by the ear towards the fireplace and flooed home.

"Well," Harry said quietly into the stunned silence that followed the Weasley Matriarch's departure. "That was... quick."

"Aptly put Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said with some amusement in his voice. "Professor McGonagall, why don't you escort Ms. Granger here back to Gryffindor tower. I would like to have a quick word with Mr. Potter in private before he returns to the dungeons." McGonagall nodded and escorted Hermione from the room. A long silence ensued after their departure before Dumbledore spoke up again. "I wished to inform you that your godfather has sent me a request to set up a meeting with you so he might try to explain some things. From his letter, it sounds as if he does not know that you are the one to facilitate his freedom." Dumbledore waited for a response but all he got was a raised eyebrow. "I also wished you to know that the various clauses in your parents will are in the process of being executed."

"Good." Harry said. His voice was calm but it had a slight edge to it that clearly stated he was displeased with the man before him. "It is ten years past the time the will should have been executed. I do hope you know that I will know if their wishes are not carried out exactly as they are stated in the will." Here his eyes narrowed dangerously. "As for the meeting with Sirius, I would more than gladly meet with him, though I will see him soon enough when I head home for the winter holidays."

"You are planning on returning to the Dursley's for Christmas?" Dumbledore questioned in surprise. Harry looked at him as if he were the dumbest person on the planet.

"Do you honestly believe that I will be staying with those cretins now that Sirius has full custody of me?" Harry asked. He continued before the old man could open his mouth. "And don't bother lecturing me about safety or blood wards. I had the wards you placed around their house dismantled... along with the compulsion spell you weaved into the fabric of the wards." The look on Dumbledore's face was priceless and Harry sat there reveling in the wide eyed and slack jawed look of disbelief. "Happy Halloween Headmaster."

With that, Harry stood up and walked from the room, a malicious smile on his face. The halls were quiet and deserted, everyone having been escorted straight to their dorms when the troll's presence had been announced. Harry paused at the end of the hall that ended in the Headmaster's office. He had been negligent. Ever since he had returned to this point in time he had been focused on two things: establishing himself and finding and destroying all the Horcruxes. Given his mental age, it had been a long, long time since Harry had thought of his first year at Hogwarts. As such, he had almost completely forgotten about the Sorcerer's Stone.

Sighing in annoyance, Harry turned left instead of right and headed towards the third floor, casting a disillusionment charm on himself as he went. Pausing once again, Harry thought on something. A disillusionment charm could be seen through but his cloak could only be seen through by specific means. Unfortunately, he did not have his cloak at this point in time. Dumbledore did. Given that it was technically his, Harry decided to give it a try and attempted a summoning charm. At first it didn't seem to work but then he was quite suddenly smacked in the face by a soft and silky object that was at least three times his size.

_Two points for proper ownership. _Harry thought smugly to himself as he canceled the charm and wrapped the familiar cloak around his frame before continuing on down the hall, casting a muffling charm as he went to dampen the noise of his feet and breathing.

When Harry reached the third floor he paused and listened for a few minutes. He knew that Severus would have scared Quirrell off for the night but it always paid to be cautious in such situations. When he heard nothing but loud breathing, Harry cast a spell to turn a small section of the door invisible. Nothing and no one but Fluffy was inside and the giant Cerberus was sleeping soundly. Smirking, Harry unlocked the door and slipped silently inside. He cast a strong sleeping spell to make sure Fluffy remained sleeping as he moved the paw that was covering the door. He was about to jump down when he paused with a smirk on his face. He waved his wand and three ham bones appeared. A few charms later had the bones large enough to be considered dinosaur bones, each with the words, 'Good Boy' carved into them. Setting the treats aside, Harry jumped down the trap door.

He landed on the Devil's Snare with a slight oomph. The plant almost immediately started to wrap around him but he quickly cast the same light spell Hermione had used to make a hole for himself. Rolling with his sudden drop on the floor beneath, Harry calmly made his way into the next room where the keys were waiting. He ignored the broom in favor of the door. Using his magic sight, Harry examined the spells placed on the door that prevented the use of unlocking charms. Smirking to himself, Harry picked at a few parts of the spell with his magic and the door clicked open at his touch.

_I wonder if anyone even knows such a talent exists. _Harry thought idly to himself as he sneaked through the slumbering trolls in the next room before coming to the chessboard. _Hmmm._ He thought to himself as he contemplated this challenge. He knew it was McGonagall's challenge, she was the only one that would have thought of such a thing. _Ooo!_ He thought with a smile as he remembered a particularly nifty spell he had used during the last few years of the war. It turned him and anything he was wearing into insubstantial smoke.

Humming happily to himself, Harry made his way past the chess pieces and through the door beyond. He rematerialized and canceled the spell once he was in the room with the black fire and Severus' riddle/potion challenge. Harry didn't bother with the potion and merely flicked his wand at the black fire and walked straight through. The mirror chamber beyond was completely empty and rather dark. The Mirror of Erised rested peacefully in the center of the room. Harry wondered briefly if the mirror was sentient since he remembered encountering the mirror in another part of the castle. Shrugging the thought off, Harry stood before the mirror and focused on the desire to gain the stone but not use it. Just like before, his image winked at him before pulling the stone out and replacing it in his pocket.

Harry took the stone out as he turned from the mirror, tossed it joyfully into the air under his cloak and put it back. Veritably skipping, Harry made his way from the room and back up to the main part of the castle, closing the trap door behind him. Harry nearly had a heart attack when he turned and saw Severus and Dumbledore standing in the doorway staring at the sight before them. The trap door had seemed to close of its own accord and Fluffy was still snoozing peacefully, though one of his paws seemed to have moved to pull one of the bones closer to him. Thankful that he had the foresight to summon his cloak, Harry moved silently over to the side of the room.

He felt a Homenum Revelio spell being cast from Dumbledore's wand and he quickly snapped out a ward that would conceal his presence and deflect the spell. Dumbledore frowned when the spell failed to reveal the presence of anyone else in the room and he bent his head to whisper to Severus.

"Peeves maybe?" He asked quietly so as to not wake the sleeping dog. "I warned him to stay away from here but he has a tendency not to listen."

"Or someone was going down instead of up." Severus suggested, just as quietly as Dumbledore. Neither of them realized that the dog was spelled asleep. "We should still check to make sure that the protections are untouched and that the stone is secure." Dumbledore nodded his agreement before cautiously stepping forward and opening the trap door and gesturing Severus down first and following quickly a second later.

"One would so call this unfair." Harry snickered as he moved to the door and slipped out; canceling the sleeping spell he had on Fluffy as he went. "But I think the old man could do with a bit of a fright."

Whistling a merry little tune, Harry made his way back down to the dungeons, turning more than a few portraits as he went, all wondering where the whistling was coming from. When he was safely back within the dungeon corridors, Harry made it to the Slytherin common room door before he slipped his cloak off and ducked inside the door. His entry went smoothly at first but that did not last long. Draco was pacing in agitation in front of the fireplace and looking highly worried for some reason. Then he spotted Harry and the brunet knew the reason.

"Where have you been!?" Draco practically screeched as he stormed over to Harry and got right in his face.

"With the Headmaster." Harry said, half truthfully. He was a little perturbed by Draco's behavior but he managed to keep a straight face. "Getting Weasley suspended and in a heap of trouble with his mother." His diversion worked and Draco's attention was diverted elsewhere.

"How on earth did you manage that?" Zabini questioned from his position on the couch in front of the fireplace. "No one has been suspended from Hogwarts in the past century and that's taking into account the Weasley twins."

"Yes well," Harry said as he meandered over to the fireplace to warm himself up a bit before he left the room. "The Weasley brat crossed a line and I'd be damned if I let him get away with it. And no, I'll not say what exactly he did as it is a private matter."

"Must have been something bad though." Zabini said with a look of disbelief on his face. "Suspension from Hogwarts is no easy feat. Especially for a first year _and _within the first semester."

"No it isn't easy," Harry agreed as he stepped away from the fireplace. "Well, good night."

Harry walked from the room, not noticing the blond that was following him quietly. He made his way to his room and closed his door behind him before he Apparated out. Normally one would not be able to Apparate within Hogwarts' grounds but the spells and wards he had placed all around his room were able to displace the anti-apparition wards just within his room so he could come and go as he pleased. Harry reappeared at Privet Drive on the modified second floor of his supposed relative's house. He conjured a small chest and placed it on the dresser he had in the room and proceeded to lock the stone within with much the same wards the he had surrounding Helga's cup. He'd return the stone to Nicholas eventually, he just needed to wait until things cooled down from its disappearance. If he returned it now, who knew what would happen. Between an uproar of the Hogwarts staff and Voldemort hiding out in Quirrell's head it was simply not worth it to return the stone now.

Satisfied that the stone was well protected from Voldemort's clutches, Harry returned to Hogwarts, where he once again nearly had a heart attack as he Apparated right next to Draco, nearly in the exact same space.

"Haven't you learned by now that coming into my room unannounced is dangerous?" Harry snipped angrily as he picked himself up off the floor, having fallen down when he leaped away in shock at having been so close to the other boy.

"Haven't you learned that you're breaking practically every law known to magic?" Draco retaliated as he too picked himself up off the floor. "No one is supposed to be able to do what you just did. The wards protecting the castle protect it from _anyone _Apparating into or out of the grounds. Not even the Dark Lord could breach the wards when he was at the height of his power."

"Your point?" Harry asked grumpily as he started changing into his pajamas, heedless of the blush that was gracing Draco's cheeks. "Did it ever occur to you that Voldemort isn't as powerful as people claim him to be? I mean for god's sake the tales about him practically deifies him and he was nothing more than a narcissistic and sadistic half-blood that had a grudge against the Wizarding World for leaving him in a pitiful muggle orphanage."

"First of all, how do you know all that?" Draco questioned in shock, never having heard such things about the Dark Lord before. "Second of all, my point was that you have done something no one else was capable of doing and I want to know how."

"Two questions, one answer." Harry said as he moved over to his bedside and started fusing with the covers. "I am not the eleven year old Harry Potter. I am the one hundred and sixty year old Harry Potter come back from the future to change the past because the war with Voldemort never ended and raged on until it destroyed almost all of Britain and nearly half the planet." Even though he was dead serious, Harry made a show of twitching his lips, as if he were attempting not to laugh.

"You know if you're not going to tell me you might as well just say so." Draco said with a scowl on his face that he had to have learned from Severus. Clearly upset, the blond left the room, making a show of slamming his door shut behind him.

"Oh Draco," Harry said, with a heavy sigh as he climbed under the covers. "If you only knew."

–Scene Break–

"Severus please, let's try not to panic here." Dumbledore said with forced calm as he and the Potions Master made their way back up to the main castle, having finished checking on the stone and finding it missing. "Panicking will do no one any good. The stone is missing, yes, but we don't know who or what took it. If Voldemort had his hands on the stone we would know almost instantly. He would not waste time in resuming his campaign."

"Even if he does not have it, the fact remains that the blasted thing is missing." Severus snapped as they walked across the chessboard and through the door beyond. "What's even more disturbing is that almost none of the protections we had in place were disturbed. With the exception of that blasted dog, everything we put in place appears to be undisturbed. Perhaps the Dark Lord merely has not had a chance to use it yet. Quirrell is still in the castle. I caught him trying to sneak past Fluffy earlier but maybe he was attempting to sneak away not past. My interference may have simply spooked him enough to delay going to the Dark Lord with the stone."

"Severus do you have any proof that Quirrell is involved?" Dumbledore ask patiently, as if he had heard the 'Quirrell is a Death Eater' bit many times before. "I've told you before, we cannot simply accuse someone of being a Death Eater without proof."

"There certainly was no problem in doing so with Black." Severus growled in annoyance as he and Dumbledore levitated themselves up through the Devil's Snare and back through the trap door.

Dumbledore was about to make some sort of response to that but the both of them froze when they heard an ominous growl from behind them. As one, they turned their heads to see all three of Fluffy's heads gnawing on their own ham bone. Six set of eyes were riveted on the pair of wizards that had come out of the trap door and for a single comical moment, they all just stared at each other. The wizards broke first and bolted for the door with all the speed they could muster. Their movement snapped Fluffy out of his daze and all three bones dropped to the floor as he got up and went after the retreating wizards.

Severus managed to make it to the door first and flung it open. Dumbledore was hot on his heals but he was a second too slow and his leg got caught in the mouth of the dog's right head. Dumbledore reached out and Severus caught the old man's hand. There was another comical moment when Severus engaged in a small bout of tug of war with Dumbledore acting as the rope before he managed to fire off a stinging hex at the dog's nose. Not wasting any time, Severus hauled the Headmaster out of the room and slammed the door shut, making sure it locked securely in place.

"Come, let's get you to Pomfrey." Severus said as he bent down and aided the old man to his feet. Dumbledore looked to be in a right state of shock and complied easily with Severus' notion.

_Serves the old man right really. _Severus thought darkly to himself as he made his way to the infirmary. _Keeping such a beast in a school. The other protections are one thing. _They _can be controlled to a certain extent but that dog is beyond reasoning. Maybe this will teach him a thing or two about his harebrained ideas._


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Harry sighed as he sat in the carriage on the train, waiting for it to depart from the Hogsmeade station to return them all to London. He had not seen Hermione that morning for some reason so he had not had the chance to catch up with her from the past few days. Things had settled down slightly from Halloween. No one had attempted to kill him and while the students could clearly tell something was up, the staff was doing a fine job at not making a fuss over the stone's disappearance. Dumbledore had approached him once in mid-November to talk about the wards on the Dursley's residence.

He had apparently visited the house himself and since he had been there once before he had been able to locate and see the house. However, he could get nowhere near the property. Indeed, he could not even cross the street or come within ten feet of the property line. Harry had flatly refused to say who he had obtained to re-ward the house after he had the previous set dismantled. Dumbledore had tried to impress upon Harry the importance of him residing with the Dursley's, citing how it was a valuable protection against Voldemort directly and his followers indirectly. He tried to make Harry believe that if he were to remain anywhere unprotected for too long, the Death Eaters could find and kill him. Dumbledore had shut up when Harry countered with the subject of his abuse and how he would sooner slit the throats of all three muggles before he subjected himself to their so called care again.

Surprisingly, Sirius had not decided to set up a meeting with Harry as soon as possible, deciding to wait until the Christmas holidays to see him. He had, however, taken up a correspondence with Harry via owl post in an attempt to get to know Harry and for Harry to get to know Sirius. Harry had, of course, snickered at the man's attempts to tentatively get him to open up to the idea of Sirius being innocent. Not wanting to get into anything over letters, Harry had played the part of an eleven year old boy who did not fully understand the situation but was willing to give Sirius a chance.

To top it all off, Draco had been in a fitful mood ever since Halloween when he thought Harry had been lying about how he was able to do the things he could do. He had extended an invitation to Harry to visit Malfoy Manor for Christmas. Harry had at first thought to decline, not wanting to be anywhere near Lucius Malfoy. Upon further reflection though, he decided to accept, though stating that he would only come over for Boxing Day as he wished to spend Christmas with his godfather. It was the perfect opportunity to snatch the diary Horcrux in Lucius' possession. Draco had pitched a fit about how he wanted Harry there for the entire holiday but quickly subsided when Harry gave him the ultimatum of either Boxing Day or not at all. The blond had sulked for the next three days.

"There you are!" Hermione's voice sounded suddenly, drawing Harry out of his thoughts. "Sorry I didn't meet up with you earlier. I was having one heck of a time gathering my stuff to pack."

"It's okay Hermione." Harry said with a welcoming smile as he helped her put her trunk in the rack above their seats.

"Alright," she said with an air of determination about her as she sat down across from Harry and gave him a look. "Now that we have a moment to ourselves, spill."

Harry snickered for a moment before he sobered at the scowl she sent his way. "It's not that I don't want to tell you or that I don't trust you. I quite simply, cannot tell you without risking major repercussions. However," He continued, holding up his hand to forestall an angry tirade from the witch. "In an effort to provide you with some type of answers I am going to suggest to you several books to read." He pulled out a piece of paper and pen and scribbled down a quick list of books. "If your parents agree, I suggest you head to Flourish and Blotts and pick these up. They will explain a few things about why I have to be careful with what I say."

Hermione gave him a strange look as she took the list and scanned it over. The titles caused her eyebrows to raise into her hairline and she looked up at Harry with a speculative look. He merely shook his head and gestured at the list, indicating that he would not say anything until she read the books. She nodded and stuffed the list into a pocket. She was about to say something else, likely about to start an entirely different conversation, when the compartment door slid open. They both looked up to see Draco standing in the doorway, looking mildly uncomfortable. Harry guessed it was because of Hermione. The blond had not spent a single second around the witch all year as he worked through his notions of blood purity and what not.

"May I?" Draco asked when the silence stretched on for too long and the train had started to move. The words seemed foreign in his mouth, as if he were unused to having to ask for something he wanted.

"Come in and sit down Draco," Harry said with a smile on his face. He was thankful that he had managed to limit himself to a smile instead of the giggles that wanted to escape his lips. "I'm sure between the three of us we can find something to entertain ourselves during the long ride to London."

"To be frank, I'm surprised you're taking the train at all." Draco commented as he sat down next to Harry.

"It's the only way for an underage wizard or witch to get to London from Hogwarts unless a parent picks you up." Harry replied calmly as he quirked an eyebrow at the blond. "Why would I not be taking the train?"

Draco snorted and then surprised both him and Hermione by saying, "So how was your first semester at Hogwarts Granger?"

And so it went for the next several hours. The three of them would bounce between conversation and games that ranged from wizard's chess to Exploding Snap. Hermione had found wizard's chess horrifying and barbaric but had lightened up slightly when she found out that the pieces automatically repaired themselves at the end of a game. She had even taken part in a game during the train ride, surprising Draco by beating him soundly within ten minutes. The blond still could not figure out how she had done such a thing and appeared highly offended that she had. Harry had just snickered from the sidelines, refusing to play her, knowing that no matter how old they were, he could not beat the girl.

"Oh it's about time!" Hermione crowed when they pulled into the station. "I was just about to pull out a book."

Harry rolled his eyes at her antics and helped her pull down her trunk and followed her and the blond out onto the platform. Hermione found her parents almost immediately and rushed over to meet them and their happy hugs. Harry started to follow but Draco held him back with a guarded expression.

"My dad will freak if he knew I was associating with a muggleborn so I'll see you on Boxing Day Harry." Draco said and surprised Harry again by giving him a short hug before he walked away towards another part of the platform, in search of his own parents. Harry sighed and vowed to do something about Lucius before he turned and went over to Hermione and greeted her parents.

"Hermione has told us so much about you Harry." Jane Granger said with a happy smile as she wrapped Harry in a hug.

"And I about you." Harry replied as she released him and he shook John Granger's hand. "Particularly about how much you guys enjoy your careers. You must meet a great deal of different types of people being dentists. And quite a few teeth as well." All three of them laughed at Harry's joke. "So do you guys have some where to be? I thought that maybe we could all go get a bite to eat before parting ways. I know a lovely little bistro just down the street from here." As if that had been some sort of cue, someone's stomach rumbled loudly, loud enough to be heard over the din of the crowd.

"I think that would be a lovely idea," John said with a smirk at the two women next to them, identifying that it was one of them that had the empty stomach. "But what about your parents Harry?"

"Oh, Sirius should be around here somewhere." Harry said as he surveyed the crowed, looking for the usually flamboyant and rambunctious man that was his godfather. "He said he would – ah! SIRIUS!" Harry called as he trotted off down the platform and practically barreled Sirius over as he gave the man a bear hug.

"Harry?" Sirius questioned in shock as he wrapped what little of his arms that he could around Harry's side since the small boy had his arms pinned to his side in the hug.

"I missed you Sirius," Harry said, his voice muffled by Sirius stomach, where Harry's face was buried.

"You remember me?" Sirius couldn't believe the words that had just left Harry's mouth, so convinced was he that Harry would hate him, despite the Ministry clearing him of his supposed betrayal.

"We'll get into that later," Harry said as he pulled away and looked up at Sirius with a beaming smile that took Sirius' breath away. "Right now there are some people I want you to meet." Harry practically dragged Sirius back over to the Grangers. "Sirius, this is the doctors Granger, John and Jane, and their daughter, my best friend, Hermione. Everyone, this is Sirius Black, my godfather."

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Black." John said, shaking Sirius' hand. "Harry had an idea of going to go get a bite to eat. Would it be alright for you and Harry to accompany us?"

"I've no problem with that." Sirius said, still a little dazed by everything that had happened in the last few seconds. "Though I'm afraid I don't know much of anything about the muggle world so I don't know any places around here we could go."

"Oh please don't tell me you spent the last three and a half months cooped up in your apartment." Harry said in a tone of voice that sounded very nearly like an exasperated adult dealing with an unruly child. The sheepish look on the animagus' face said it all and Harry sighed with a roll of his eyes. "How are you supposed to recover if you stay cooped up in an apartment?"

"Hey! I went out!" Sirius protested, sounding very much like a child that was defending their actions against an irate parent.

"The lobby does not count Sirius." Harry said as he led the way through the barrier into the muggle world and out onto London's streets. "Did you at least take advantage of the balcony in your apartment?"

"I did – wait!" Sirius said, ignoring the snickers of the Grangers as he pulled Harry to a stop and turned the boy to face him. "How do you know where I've been staying?"

"Come now Sirius," Harry said as if he were placating the man as he turned and started walking again. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize my handwriting. After all, how many people do you know with the initials HJP? Ah! Here we are!"

"Hello," a nice muggle woman with brown hair said as they walked into the quaint little bistro. It was near the dead of winter and about an hour or so before the dinner rush hit so they managed to come in when the place was relatively empty. "Five?" She asked, counting out three regular menus and two children menus. John and Jane nodded as Sirius seemed to still be processing the information Harry had given him.

"Excuse me." Harry said after they had been seated with their menus and the waitress started to walk away to get them all glasses of water

"Yes dear?" The waitress said in patronizing voice that grated on Harry's nerves. He fought the urge to glare at the woman.

"Can I get a regular menu please?" Harry said in a voice of forced calm as he resisted the urge to hex the girl's hair off.

"Oh well aren't you sweet! Playing at being an adult." She made as if to pat Harry on the head like a puppy but the glare Harry leveled at her had her freezing in place and looking as if she'd been slapped. Slowly she retracted her hand and her smile turned hesitant and wary. "I'll bring you out a regular menu with the waters." The waitress quickly scurried away.

"I do hate people that do that." Harry grumbled petulantly as he folded the stupid little kid's menu up and tossed it into the center of the table. "I may be eleven but she does not have to treat me like I'm two. Honestly, what is so odd about wanting a regular menu? It's not like my stomach is the size of a pea or something."

"I agree," Hermione said as she examined her own child's menu. "I think school has spoiled me. We get such large meals there that I forgot what a child's portion looks like from a restaurant."

"Dear lord!" Harry said in mock shock as he stared at Hermione in animated horror. "Did Hermione Granger just say she _forgot _something?"

"Oh shut it you!" Hermione huffed as she aimed to kick Harry in the shins but ended up hitting the booth between him and Sirius. "I never claimed to have a photographic memory."

Harry broke down into giggles as Hermione continued to scowl at him. The actual adults in the seats next to them stared on in varying states of amusement or surprise. The doctors Granger were just happy that their little girl had made friends and seemed to be getting along quite well in her new school. They were also happy that Harry seemed capable of dragging the girl from her books from time to time so as to actually enjoy her childhood. Sirius on the other hand, was still rather shocked by everything that had been going on, not to mention he was still processing that it was Harry who had secured his freedom. However, he was very happy to see that Harry was getting along in life without too many problems. Well... problems he could see anyways.

Dumbledore had sent him more than one letter trying to convince him to relinquish custody of Harry back to the Dursley's, himself, or at the very least make the boy stay in Hogwarts for the holidays. All of the old man's pleas had fallen on deaf ears. Sirius wanted to see his godson, wanted to spend time with him away from school and matters of importance. He really saw no reason for all the fuss. Voldemort was gone, at least for now, and the Death Eaters that remained at large were so far into hiding from the Ministry that they would not care about the Boy-Who-Lived and would not be trying to track his whereabouts.

"Here you are." The waitress said in an attempt at a joyous voice but failed rather miserably. She set out the waters and placed a regular menu in front of Harry. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders."

Harry made to take a drink of his water but stopped with the drink mere centimeters from his lips. Something smelled off with his water. He took a long, deep breath of air through his nose and frowned deeply at what his senses were telling him. He could detect several potion ingredients swirling within the seemingly innocent glass of water. Switching his sight over to the magical spectrum, Harry looked down at his glass and saw that there was indeed a potion swirling in his glass, one that was meant to bind the drinker to a certain person or place. He looked to the other glasses and was gratified when they were all clean. Harry then looked over to their waitress and saw that she was covered in appearance altering glamours and had a wand tucked in her pocket. A look towards the kitchen told him that there was another magical being hiding out of sight. One he recognized.

"Something wrong there Harry?" Sirius questioned in concern when he saw Harry simply sitting there with the glass in the same position for roughly five minutes.

"Yes, actually." Harry said honestly as he put the glass down and returned his eyesight to normal. "Excuse me. I'll be right back."

Harry got up and wandered over to the disguised witch and calmly asked her where the bathroom was and appearing to contritely apologize for his earlier behavior. He annoyingly allowed her to pat his head and direct him towards the bathroom. No one noticed his sleight of hand. Harry acted as if he was going to the bathroom but ducked into the kitchen instead. A loud crash sounded, startling the 'waitress', the Grangers, and Sirius alike. The waitress had gone for her wand but found it missing while the others merely stared at the kitchen in confusion. Another loud clanging had everyone jumping again and their eyes widened when an indignant squawking followed.

Suddenly the doors to the kitchen flew open and a bird that looked to be a cross between a flamingo and a pelican stumbled out. A flash of light, an obvious spell, followed and scorched the ground mere inches away from the bird, causing it to squawk and flap away. Aside from the oddity of the bird's very existence, it held everyone's attention mostly due to the fact that it was constantly switching colors and patterns. Like an old muggle cartoon when a character swallowed something that was supposed to be toxic and they turned polka doted, plaid, and stripped in various colors. Harry came out of the kitchen next, his arms crossed over his chest and a look on his face that would send a dementor running in fear.

"Get. Out." Harry bit out as he held up the other witches wand before crossing his arms again. When neither the witch nor the odd bird, which Sirius just realized had a long beard, moved fast enough, Harry's glare actually worsened and the two hightailed it out of the restaurant. "Stupid prat." Harry snarled as he waved his wand a few times, canceling the spells that were in place over the other supposed patrons of the bistro but were, in fact, the actual staff. He also banished his water and conjured a clean glass as he sat down.

"Harry." Sirius said as he looked down at the angry eleven year old next to him.

"I'll explain later." Harry said as he finally started to look over the menu. "The _actual_ staff of this place is going to be moving about now that they're not under spells."

"I thought students weren't allowed to use magic outside of school until they came of age?" Jane asked curiously, slightly surprised by the display of magic Harry had done.

"While you are correct, that law is usually only enforced on muggleborns or those who live in a muggle household." Harry said with a slightly sour expression on his face, clearly he did not like the Ministry's view point on that. "The general consensus being that muggle parents can't understand or control their child's use of magic whereas a magical parent can."

"Harry dear!" the muggle waitress that actually worked at the restaurant said as she came up to their table. "When did you get here? I thought you were going to be away at school until next summer?"

"Hi Giselle." Harry said with a happy smile. "I was but it's winter holidays so I came back to spend Christmas with my family and friends."

"Oh well isn't that nice." Giselle said with a happy smile as she pulled out a pen and pad. "Do you want your usual?"

"I would actually." Harry said as he closed the menu and handed it to her. "You guys know what you want?" He added turning to the others who sat in the booth with him. All he got in response was dumbfounded and surprised looks from everyone. "Perhaps a few more minutes. I'm afraid I've given them some startling news and they haven't had much of an opportunity to look the menu over."

"No worries, take your time. I'll hold off on putting in your order." Giselle said with an understanding smile. "I'll start an appetizer plate for the table while they decide though. It sounds like someone could use something on their stomach while they decide." Harry snickered as she walked away. She was right. Someone's stomach was grumbling rather loudly. He suspected it was Hermione's since he had not seen her at breakfast that morning and she refused treats from the trolley on the train.

"Spend much time here Harry?" Hermione teased with a small grin as she turned her attention back to the menu she was sharing with her father.

"Came here almost every day for lunch when I was hunting for an apartment." Harry said as he leaned back and took a drink of water. He noticed that Sirius was still staring at him as if he'd grown a second head so he nudged the man with his elbow and gave him a look that said he'd explain later in private. "The staff got quite used to my presence and Giselle is a great waitress."

"Why would you be looking for an apartment Harry?" John asked curiously.

"Well, until recently Sirius was not able to look after me so I was living with my muggle relatives." Harry said, pausing briefly as Giselle came out with the appetizer platter and took everyone's order. "They're not exactly what you would call nice and since I knew my parents left me quite a bit of wizarding money, I took it upon myself when I got my Hogwarts letter to get my own place."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Jane said with a sad expression on her face, even as she looked as if she could guess exactly what Harry meant when he said the Dursley's were not nice. Hermione had the same look, though it was mollified slightly with the information she had previously gathered at Hogwarts. Harry had confided in her a few times with small tidbits of the life he had before Hogwarts.

Harry waved off her apology with a warm smile and turned the conversation towards lighter topics and soon they were all smiling or laughing. Even Sirius started to relax and laugh, a long absent sparkle returning to his eyes as Harry told a few jokes or funny stories. One in particular nearly had the man falling on the floor in great heaps of laughter. That was the story of how Harry had ended up trapping his oaf of a cousin in a boa constrictor enclosure in a muggle zoo once and how the boy nearly had a fit when the snake slithered over him to escape through the vanished glass that Harry had managed with a bit of accidental magic.

That had sparked tales of other misadventures with accidental magic. Hermione had evidently managed to glue her door shut one time when she had got angry at her parents for trying to drag her out of her books. The bushy haired Gryffindor had blushed profusely at that story and Harry's knowing smirk. Sirius had told some stories about James' accidental magic, his own tales of such things not being so happy, and Harry relished in the opportunity he had lost the first time around when Sirius had died only two years after escaping and them never having the opportunity to be with each other.

"This was such fun Harry." Jane said as she drew the boy into a warm embrace as they stood outside the bistro about to part ways. "I'm so happy Hermione is making friends and that we got to meet one of them. And it was a pleasure to meet you as well Mr. Black." She added holding out her hand for Sirius to shake.

"Please," Sirius said with a slight huff. "Call me Sirius, though I'm anything but." Everyone giggled.

"Have a happy Christmas Harry." Hermione said as she gave him a hug before her parents dragged her off towards where they had parked their car.

"Come on Sirius." Harry said with a sigh as he turned to walk down the street. "We've much to talk about."

–Scene Break–

Dumbledore was in a deep state of shock as he sat on a bed in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. The young witch he had asked to help him had portkeyed them back to the castle after they had fled the bistro in muggle London. The entire plan to bind Harry to him had completely blown up in his face. At first, everything had appeared to go perfectly well. The witch, a recent graduate of Hogwarts, had been almost perfect, aside from her patronizing of Harry. He had told her to do some mild patronizing, trying to demean Harry and rekindle some of the mindset that Dumbledore's compulsion spell should have cultivated. While that had not worked and Harry's vicious glares had nearly stopped both their hearts, she had still managed to slip the odorless and tasteless binding potion that Dumbledore had brewed personally into a glass of water and give it to the boy.

The Headmaster had watched avidly when Harry had been about to drink the potion down. Then his heart had started to pound furiously when the boy froze with the glass a hairsbreadth away from his lips. His eyes had started glowing faintly but ominously. Harry had glanced down at the glass of water and a dangerous look had started to claw its way onto his face and Dumbledore felt a chill run down his spine when the boy looked the bistro over. It had been very tempting to run the second Harry got out of his chair but he had held out hope that maybe everything would turn out fine. They had not.

Dumbledore had kept still and silent under his disillusionment charm in the kitchen watching everything and waiting for Harry to pass into the bathroom like he had thought he was going to do. When the boy suddenly ducked into the kitchen Dumbledore had reacted on instinct and fired off a stunner. Surprisingly, Harry reacted as if he had seen more battles than Dumbledore, dodging and rolling further into the kitchen, wand in hand, and firing off three consecutive spells in a matter of seconds and in a wide range. All spells had been designed to freeze or contain their target in some matter. Dumbledore managed to dodge the stunner but ended up running right into the petrification spell that he did not see or hear come from the boy's lips. He fell to the floor in a crash, knocking over several pots and pan.

While all of this was certainly shocking to say the least, it was not what had Dumbledore in a state of shock. No. What had him in shock was his current... predicament. Harry had canceled the petrification but before Dumbledore could react, Harry had transfigured him into this weird bird that looked a cross between a pelican and a flamingo with his long gray beard. He had then proceeded to unceremoniously toss Dumbledore from the kitchen. The most humiliating part of it all was that no matter what he did, Dumbledore could not counteract the transfiguration himself (a big surprise considering he had been a professor of the subject before he became Headmaster) and had to go to Minerva and Madam Pomfrey for help. The two witches had not stopped laughing long enough to help him since.

"_SQUAWK!_" The indignant noise and irate flapping of his wings drew the attention of both witches. There was a moment of silence as they all stared at each other before the two irksome witches broke down into greater gales of laughter.

_Oh so help them when they return me to normal._ Dumbledore thought viciously as he glared at Minerva and Poppy with narrowed eyes. _And help that boy too!_

–Scene Break–

"Hey Doug!" Harry greeted cheerfully as he entered the high-rise apartment complex some minutes after leaving the bistro and the Grangers. "How's it going today?"

"Pretty well Mr. Potter." the security guard/doorman, Doug evidently, said as he stood up and held out a hand to greet Harry, the most activity that Sirius had seen from the man since he had started living here. "You have some mail here I've been holding for you Mr. Potter." Doug added as he held out some envelopes.

"Thank you Doug," Harry said as he rifled through the papers briefly. There were quite a few since he had been gone for almost four months. "How did West Ham do?"

"Bah!" Doug said emphatically and rather sourly. "The new coach is horrible! I swear he's driving that team into the ground. They lost, 10-2. It was slaughter I tell you. Slaughter!"

"Well, maybe they'll get a new coach and throw this one out." Harry said hopefully but with a look that said he doubted it. He nodded his thanks to Doug for the letters before heading over to the lifts, leaving the other man to his reading and muttering about how stupid people should not be allowed to coach football.

"West Ham?" Sirius questioned in complete confusion once they were safely in an empty lift.

"It's a football team, a muggle sport that some call soccer." Harry explained as he looked at his mail in a little more detail. Most of it was nonsense, ads and the like, but there were a few important letters from investment prospects Harry had been scoping out before school had started. "Doug's a big fan of them and I find myself quite partial to them as well. He and I spent almost an entire afternoon watching a game at his desk."

"Interesting. You know, I think I remember Moony mentioning something like that a long time ago." Sirius said with a thoughtful frown on his face, as if he were attempting to remember something from a hundred years ago. Harry snorted at that thought though it probably was just as difficult for Sirius given his tenure in Azkaban.

"Have you spoken with Remus yet?" Harry asked as he stuffed his mail under his arm and pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket while moving down the hall towards his flat. He started rifling through what looked like a thousand identical keys, searching for the right one. How Harry could tell them apart was beyond Sirius.

"I have sent him a letter yes but how did you know who I was talking about?" Sirius questioned with a frown at the eleven year old standing next to him rifling through keys in front of a door that felt to be very heavily warded.

"Oh I know all about the Marauders." Harry said after a moment of silence, in which he appeared to find the key he needed and slipped it into the deadbolt and unlocked the door. "Okay, maybe not everything, but I know who they all are and their Marauder names to accompany their real names."

The room beyond the door was, to put it simply, homey. While it was definitely a bachelor's pad, as evident by the overstuffed, king sized bed that occupied the raised loft area and was in full view of the rest of the room, the whole apartment had a quaint, lived in feel about it. The living area supported a lovely forest green couch that was excruciatingly soft to the touch and was deep enough to stretch out on without falling off. Two chairs sat on either side of the couch and all faced a gas fireplace that had a large, flat screen TV (though Sirius had no idea what it was) above it. A bathroom and closet sat between the 'bedroom' and kitchen.

The kitchen was actually the most interesting thing in the entire apartment. It had obviously been modified with magic as it could not have possibly fit in the flat without taking up almost all the space in the neighboring apartment. It was a full sized gourmet kitchen with a gas stove, a double loader oven, a microwave (though again Sirius didn't recognize half the equipment), a deep, double sided sink with a swan neck that had a detachable hose, a blender, mixer, and counter space that would make even the most spoiled of chefs envious. The kicker though, was that the entire kitchen was scaled to someone the size of an eleven year old boy so when Harry entered it he looked more like a full grown man rather than a child. The effect was quite startling.

"You're going to need a drink for this talk Sirius," Harry said as he moved about in front of the bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the flat. "Do you want Firewhiskey or a mixed drink? I can make a pretty good martini. Got some good scotch in here too I think, though I might have put that in your place. Not the biggest whiskey drinker I'm afraid."

"What are you doing with _alcohol_?!" Sirius asked with what was likely his attempt at a parental look but his surprise was leaking in too much. "You're only 11. You shouldn't even know about alcohol let alone have some in stock."

"Firewhiskey it is," Harry said, reaching down into something below the counter and pulled out a chilled bottle of Firewhiskey, popped the cap and set it on the counter for Sirius, who had yet to move. "And for the record I knew about alcohol when I was six when Vernon pulled me aside and pointed out an expensive bottle of whiskey he was going to save for when I was dead and out of their lives for good." The bitter tone in Harry's voice clearly stated that he was not even remotely kidding. "Now," he continued as he knelt down and started pulling out some more bottles from the cabinet. "For reasons that will become apparent once I start my tale, I must bind you to silence about anything that is discussed here between us. It is not because I don't trust you, far from it, but because the information is highly sensitive and cannot be risked slipping, even accidentally, into the wrong ears."

"Let me guess," Sirius said as he moved forward and sat down on one of the bar stools in front of Harry, who had started pouring various liquids into a mixing cup. Sirius was pleased to note that very little of actual alcohol was put into the drink. "I either give the oath or I don't get any answers."

"You are correct but again it is not because I don't trust you. I would, in fact, lay my life in your hands." Harry's statement surprised Sirius into raising his eyebrows. "I merely wish to ensure that no one, no matter how powerful, no matter what skills or techniques they use, can pull the information from you."

"Very well," Sirius said with a huff, obviously not very pleased about having to bind himself in such a manner. He started to give a standard wizard's oath but Harry stopped him.

"Those can be broken or circumvented." Harry explained as pulled out his wand and took one of Sirius' hand in his own. "This is not the Unbreakable Vow that you know so please, for the time being, trust me." Sirius was more than a little leery, not liking the extremes to which Harry was going but complied with Harry's wishes for the time being. Harry flicked his wand and activated the spell, though Sirius immediately noticed something off with it. "Do you, Sirius Black III, swear to keep silent all that you learn from me, Harry James Potter, unless I expressly and in person give you permission to speak to a trusted ally?" Sirius repeated the line with agreement. Faint lines of energy glowed blue across their linked hands before fading from sight and Sirius felt a light weight press against his throat before it too vanished.

"What was that?" Sirius asked in curiosity as he felt his throat, as if looking for scars.

"The original Unbreakable Vow." Harry said as he went back to mixing his drink. "It was invented long before Merlin's time, a few centuries before in fact. At least that's what the dates tell us anyways." Harry shrugged as he went over to the freezer and pulled out a small thing of ice cream and then a small thing of cream from the fridge. "It does not kill the person who made the vow if they tried to break it, they are merely rendered incapacitated until they are either killed by those interrogating them or revived. It was used by a group of assassins that operated all across Europe to great effect. The lethal aspect was not added until after Merlin had come and gone by a particularly nasty wizard who preferred death over loyalty."

"How do you know that? Or anything that I've seen you do in the past few hours." Sirius questioned, already feeling the urge to drink the Firewhiskey in front of him. He managed to restrain himself... for now.

"Because while I appear to be eleven, I am actually 160." Harry said flatly as he finished making his drink and poured it into a martini glass. Sirius looked at it and could have sworn it looked like a milkshake, though that was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment after Harry's little bombshell. "I don't know why or how it happened but somehow I 'woke up' during the summer right when I got my Hogwarts letter. I have the memories of a man older than Dumbledore and the body of a young boy. For some reason, again I don't know how or why, when this happened I could perform magic without alerting the Ministry."

Harry took his drink, after topping it with chocolate shavings and one white chocolate chip and one chocolate chip, and left the kitchen for the living room. He flipped a switch on the wall and the fireplace sprung to life and he sat down in one of the chairs. Sirius followed, taking a long draw on the Firewhiskey as he went. Harry had been right. This talk was going to require some alcohol. A long silence stretched between them, Harry giving Sirius a break between bombshells and Sirius still absorbing the information he had already been told, all the while nursing their drinks.

"So," Sirius finally said after almost ten minutes of silence. "While you look young you are actually from 160 years in the future."

"At its base, yes." Harry said with a nod, turning from the dancing flames to look directly at Sirius. "Now I don't have a record of all future events, like what lottery numbers will be played at a certain date. My knowledge of the future extends solely to my life and life experiences. Furthermore, the very fact that I am here has changed quite a lot."

"How so?" Sirius asked as he took another swig of his whiskey.

"Well, for example, you." Harry said as he gestured at the man before him. "Before I came back, if that's what you want to call it, I did not meet or hear about you until my third year at Hogwarts when you finally broke out of prison to hunt down Pettigrew for his betrayal. You succeeded at first but Remus' affliction interfered and allowed the rat to escape before we could drag him up to the castle, leaving you a fugitive and Wormtail free to return to Voldemort's side."

"Perhaps," Sirius said as he downed the last of his Firewhiskey. "You should simply start at the beginning."

Harry smirked and nodded as he waved his wand to summon a second bottle for Sirius before beginning his tale. He started at the very beginning, what was the start of his life. Unfettered, he told of his first ten years of life at the Dursley household, much of which caused Sirius to boil with rage and if it was not for the same wards on his apartment that he had placed in his room at Hogwarts, the man likely would have stormed off to strangle the muggles he had been left with. Harry went on to detail his first year at Hogwarts, detailing how he had been the perfect little Gryffindor. Getting into loads of trouble and stopping evil in its tracks. Sirius laughed at that but the amusement quickly died as Harry went into more details.

The man nearly had a heart attack when Harry described his second year and how he had faced a basilisk and nearly died at the hands of the snake's venom. Third year was a little more amusing to Sirius but not by much. Mentions of Remus brought smiles to the ex-con's face but they were short lived. Harry's fourth year had Sirius on the edge of his seat in anticipation and horror. He nearly emptied his stomach of all the alcohol when Harry described how he had been used to return Voldemort back to full power but thankfully his stomach held firm. It went as such for some time, bouncing between horror and amusement, as Harry's life had been one long roller coaster. The worst was the end of fifth year when Harry recounted Sirius' fall through the veil. However, it was sixth year when things got really interesting.

"Sixth year was probably the most intense." Harry said as he twirled his long since empty martini glass between his fingers. "War hung over everyone's head since that blockhead, Fudge, finally admitted that Voldemort was back. Aurors patrolled Hogwarts' grounds and everyone lived in fear of seeing the Dark Mark flying over their homes or their neighbors or their friends." He paused as he got lost in his memories for a few minutes. "It was probably the most stressful time in the war. Just sitting there in class, wanting to help or fight and not being able to do a damn thing, not to mention I was still grieving over you. We may have only known each other for a short time but you were the first person I knew that really only cared for and about me, not some image I represented to the world at large."

"Oh Harry," Sirius said, his heart wrenching at the painful look on Harry's face. He got up, wobbled a bit due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed, went over to Harry, and drew him into a warm hug. "I'm so sorry." He didn't notice at first but Sirius eventually realized that Harry was silently crying into his shoulder. Harry was finally letting go of a grief that had clung to his heart for almost for two centuries.

"Anyways," Harry said, his voice a little tight and thick with emotion. He slowly pulled away from Sirius and wiped at his eyes to rid himself of the tear tracks. "At the end of my sixth year, Dumbledore died. I can't really say he was murdered because I later found out that it was all an elaborate and orchestrated suicide planned between him and Severus. He was dying anyways so it did not much matter." He paused and stared at his martini glass. With a huff, he sent the glass to the kitchen and summoned himself a Butterbeer. "After that, Hermione, Ronald Weasley, and I went on the run. Without Dumbledore to stand in his way, Voldemort managed to gain a strong foot hold in the wizarding world, going so far as to take over the Ministry of Magic. _That_ was a dark time."

"I can imagine." Sirius said with a slight shudder. "With the resources they have at their disposal, I've no doubt that the world became very dangerous at that point."

"Oh, it did." Harry said with a scowl on his face. He shifted his feet and looked at the clock before continuing. "Worst bit was that most of the public was entirely clueless to the fact. Some knew and feared to do or say anything against the Ministry's say. Those who did were either shipped off to Azkaban or forced to flee with their families. Before he died, Dumbledore had given Hermione, Ron and I a task that was supposed to bring down Voldemort but it failed. We couldn't find everything we needed and were looking for. When it became apparent that we had failed, we switched tactics." Harry paused and got up to open a window to allow Hedwig, who had started tapping on the window, into the room. She did not have a letter, she had merely sensed that he was home and wanted to be with him.

"We started planning an offensive assault on Voldemort's forces," Harry continued as he sat back down with Hedwig on his shoulder and stroking her feathers. "He had taken over Hogwarts when he took the Ministry so we had decided that to be our first target. It was still functioning as a school so we knew that we had to plan everything perfectly or innocent kids could get killed." Sirius' blood froze at the dark look that came across Harry's face at that moment. "Hermione and I had just started to plan things out when we were caught. Evidently, the spineless coward that is Ronald Weasley had given up entirely and decided to join the 'winning' side. So much for his decision to 'live' though. Slit the bastard's throat with a well placed hex before we were taken down. Bled out in seconds. Two faced bastard."

"Well..." Sirius said hesitantly, not entirely sure what to say to that. "I can't say I don't sympathize with your actions." Surprisingly that tricked a snicker out of Harry and he ended up choking slightly on the drink of Butterbeer he just took.

"No, I supposed you couldn't," Harry said with a smile as he summoned a napkin to wipe his face and the front of his shirt. "Luckily, between the two of us, Hermione and I managed to escape before Voldemort could be summoned to have his way with us. We didn't pause to consider the betrayal and continued with our plans to retake Hogwarts. We had some inside sources that managed to feed us information so we were able to plan fairly well. It took the better part of four months but we eventually managed to retake Hogwarts. We ended up researching a lot in old spells and what not and found out a lot about blood magic. Don't give me that look." He said at the disgusted and shocked look on Sirius' face.

"Our resources were limited and we had to use what we had. We learned that if certain steps were made and certain words were spoken at the right time, a structure could become completely impenetrable from the outside to those who were not welcome by the caster or casters of the spell. Death Eaters were teaching, though it was really just torture, at the school so we decided to use them." By now, Sirius looked close to vomiting again but he held his tongue and stomach in check. He clearly knew about what blood magic could do, having been raised in a dark aligned house hold, but he could not refute the fact that they had very little open to them.

"We managed to sneak into the castle in the dead of night under my invisibility cloak. Using the Marauder's Map, we easily picked off the Death Eater's that were torturing students, knocking them unconscious or petrifying them until we could put everything into place." Seeing the look on his godfather's face, Harry decided to abbreviate his story. "With Hogwarts liberated, it became our base of operations. Teachings were shut down as the entire staff started devoting their time to the war effort. We started gathering families, housing them in long forgotten sections of the castle before they could be killed. We were too late for some though and several orphans ended up wondering the halls, not knowing what to do." A long pause ensued after that before Harry shook unpleasant thoughts from his brain. "We now had Hogwarts' resources open to us and our strategies and attacks became more complex and more dangerous. We raided the Ministry some ten years down the line and it was completely destroyed in the process. The war raged after that, stretching on for decades with me and Hermione at the helm against Voldemort before we were both taken down. She died from a stray killing curse two weeks before I fell to a cutting hex to the throat. Next thing I know, I'm standing in the Dursley's kitchen again with them all staring at my Hogwarts letter."

"It sounds like you have been through more than I could ever know," Sirius said sadly as he drained his latest bottle of Firewhiskey.

"Hence the alcohol," Harry said, causing Sirius to snicker in amusement.

"Yes," Sirius said with a nod. "I cannot fault you for drinking when you have been through everything that you have. I do hope that you aren't drinking in excessive amounts though." Harry shook his head in the negative and he relaxed slightly. In truth, Sirius had gotten drunk more than once when he was underage, though never as young as Harry was now. "Oh, what exactly happened at the bistro earlier? You never explained that part."

"That," Harry said with an amused smirk on his face. "Is something I will tell you tomorrow when you're sober and can fully appreciate things." He stood up and helped Sirius off the couch, holding the man steady when he swayed dangerously. "Come on, we're both tired and could use a good long rest. You're just two doors down from me and we have a door magically linking our apartments so don't worry about being too far away from me or something like that."

Sirius grumbled petulantly but allowed Harry to steer him through the door linking their rooms and into his bedroom, leaving him to disrobe and get into bed on his own.

–Scene Break–

Something was... off. Severus could not place what exactly was off but he knew what it centered around. Harry Potter. Ever since that boy had reentered the wizarding world everything seemed to turn on its head. At first, things appeared to go as Severus had expected them to go. Potter received his Hogwarts letter without hitch indicating that the boy was more than likely living it up with those muggle relatives of his, becoming as spoiled as James Potter ever was. At least, that was what Dumbledore had indicated was going on, saying that Potter was being cared for and pampered or some such rot.

However, that was the only thing that had gone as 'expected.' Dumbledore had assigned a few members of the Order of the Phoenix to watch the ally for the boy and keep an eye on him. No one had seen or heard of his presence in Diagon Ally throughout the entire summer after the letters went out. Concerned, Dumbledore had gone to the ally personally and started asking shop owners only to come up with nothing. Even Tom, the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron, had failed to notice the presence of the Boy-Who-Lived. They all remembered seeing someone who closely resembled Potter's physical description, minus the scar and glasses, but the boy had appeared so off putting and glared at anyone who stared at him too long that no one dared to approach close enough to see if he really was Harry Potter.

Then Potter came to Hogwarts and things got really strange. Aside from his sorting into the snake house and the discovery of his abuse, Potter appeared to be a normal, eleven year old first year that had entered the castle walls. _Appeared _being the operative word here. On the surface of things, Potter looked and often acted as any other student but being an ex-Death Eater and former spy for the light, Severus knew how to look much deeper than anyone else. He saw minute quirks and physical habits in Potter that the boy was likely unaware of that he exhibited. His eating habits, for example, were nothing like a boy away from home for the first time and more akin to a man that had been trying to turn his eating habits around so as to maintain his health.

That was just a small example. A bigger example would be everything that has happened with the Sorcerer's Stone. Though he had absolutely no proof, Severus was almost positive that Potter had something to do with its disappearance. He had no idea how but he was the only one that he could think of that would get past the three headed menace on the third floor and leave behind treats for the damn thing. In the three or so months he had been in charge of Potter, he had come to notice that not only was the boy sharing the top spot in all his classes with Granger, but had this air about him that was as mischievous as his father but had a certain edge to it that his father had been lacking. Two edges in fact. One was control, meaning that he did not go after someone who did not deserve it or play pranks indiscriminately. The other was maturity, something the boy's father had never acquired.

And now _this_. The spell work done on the Headmaster to turn him into this strange bird was quite fascinating and truly top notch. He had been called in to see if a few of his potions might be able to turn the man back into himself. He had not been given any details and so had no idea what to expect upon arriving in the Hospital Wing. Severus dearly wished he had been given some form of warning as to what the Headmaster looked like. When he entered the ward he felt his stern, cold mask begin to crack and it took every ounce of his will power to keep from breaking down in a fit of laughter, something he had not felt the urge to do in a very long time. Before administering his potions, he had to examine the spells (after gaining control of himself first of course) and he was not surprised to see Potter's magical signature all over Dumbledore. He doubted any of his potions would work but had given them a try nonetheless.

"It appears," Severus drawled lazily when he had gone through his entire stock of spell negating potions and none had worked. "That you will have to wait out your stint as a bird for now Headmaster. There appears to be a time aspect to the spells on you that is already ticking down. I estimate it should cancel itself out a day or so after Christmas."

With that parting statement, Severus left the ward, intent on sending an owl to Potter.

–Scene Break–

Harry groaned in annoyance. It was Christmas day night and Sirius was still pitching a fit over how Harry had agreed to spend Boxing Day to New Years with the Malfoy family. Harry had told him the other day when they had gone out to do some last minute Christmas shopping and the man had not stopped going on about how dangerous the Malfoy's were and what they had done during the first war with Voldemort and how they would more than likely chop Harry's head off while he was sleeping. It was then that Harry was beginning to regret skipping over some of the finer details of the century long war _he _had been through, in which he had been captured several times.

"Sirius." Harry called in a forced calm.

"Do you have any idea what they've done over the centuries?" Sirius rambled, talking over Harry and not really hearing his name being called.

"Sirius." Harry called again, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Sirius continued to talk over him. "SIRIUS!" Harry finally snapped. The wards in the room flared to life and bound Sirius to a chair with chains with a startled yelp from the animagus and a powerful wave of calming magic flooded the room. Sirius stared at Harry in shock. "Now that I have your attention, perhaps I can drag your scattered focus to a few details you have missed or not given me the chance to point out." Sirius tried to reply but he found his mouth forced close by the magic in the room.

"First, as I have demonstrated just now and have told you about numerous times, I am perfectly capable of defending myself. Second, I can assure you that I am fully and _intimately_ aware of just what Lucius Malfoy is capable of." The look he sent Sirius had the man paling as the implications of what Harry was saying sank in. "Third, if you had bothered to let me explain earlier when I first told you, I would have told you that I had secured your presence at Malfoy Manor for New Year's Eve as I wish to break in the New Year with you, as I'm sure you would feel the same. Fourth, Lucius is in the possession of something I need in order to destroy Voldemort once and for all and this is the perfect opportunity for me to get it without having to break into the Manor, something that is very nearly impossible to do." Harry could do it of course, he had broken out of the place several times, but he would rather take the easier route.

"You're right Harry." Sirius sighed when the magic released his jaw so he could talk. "Sometimes it is hard to remember all that you've told me when you look like you do. I'm sorry."

"It is understandable Sirius and you are forgiven." Harry said and the wards calmed and the chains vanished. "In the future though, I hope that you have enough faith and trust in me to hear me out before going off on a rant. It has been a very, very long time since I have done anything without putting a fair amount of thought behind my actions."

"I will do my best." Sirius said as he straightened his ruffled clothing. He had been standing when Harry had snapped and the wards pinned him down and his clothes had gotten skewed. "By the way, what is it exactly that you're after? You've never said what exactly it is that's keeping Voldemort alive."

"I know you grew up in a Dark aligned family Sirius but how much about the Dark Arts do you actually know?" Harry said as he got up with a groan and went over to the kitchen to grab some cookies he had made by hand the other day for Christmas.

"Admittedly not much," Sirius said with a slight grimace. "I ran before they got into the really dark stuff."

"Alright then," Harry said as he handed over a plate and glass of milk to Sirius before sitting down with his own. "Some of the darkest of the Dark Arts out there dabble in the realm of life and death. While he was in school Voldemort discovered the means in which to achieve a very crude, disgusting, and violent form of immortality." Harry paused as he took a bite of his cookie before continuing. "What he has done is split his soul into several pieces, anchoring his soul to this plane of existence. He placed these pieces into specific containers and hid them away. These things are called Horcruxes and are very difficult to destroy. So far I only have one and have been using my spare time to devise a safer and more reliable way to dispose of the things." He pointed to a corner of the room where a cauldron sat in the shadows simmering and emitting a strange colored glow.

"Could you not just smash the containers?" Sirius questioned, trying not focus on the other pieces of information that Harry had given him.

"No," Harry shook his head. "They're protected by powerful magic that cause them to repair or deflect any damage unless the damage done cannot be fixed by any means. That's why I'm trying to develop an acid strong enough to break through all the enchantments without too much of a fuss. Have you heard from Remus yet?"

The sudden shift in conversation had Sirius pausing and blinking owlishly for a few minutes. "No." He said in obvious disappointment. "It's actually starting to concern me. I don't know if he's simply not receiving my letters or has yet to get the news of my pardon and disregards my letters, thinking they're from the person who betrayed your family and our friends."

"Perhaps I should send him a letter along with a newspaper clipping," Harry suggested as he looked to Hedwig, who was napping on her perch next to Harry's bed. "He likely wouldn't be expecting a letter from me but that does not mean he would throw it out if I sent him one."

"That actually might be a good idea." Sirius said after a moment's thought. "Knowing Moony, he probably left the country. I know he has good contacts in a few wolf packs, though I don't know where exactly. He likely went to them after your parents died, thinking he had lost everything and everyone he had ever cared about."

"I'll send Hedwig off tomorrow before I leave for the Malfoy's then." Harry said as he swallowed the last of his cookies and banished his and Sirius' dishes back to the kitchen where they started washing themselves. He got up and stretched lazily. "Thank you for the presents Sirius, though I still maintain that you bought me far, far too much." He said as he hugged his godfather. They both chuckled. Sirius had practically bought out several muggle and magical stores, buying various toys, books, and other things he thought Harry would like. As such, Harry had to make a second room just to have space for it all.

"There's no such thing as too many presents!" Sirius crowed as he stood up with a smile on his face. "Especially when you've had far too few."

"Good night Sirius," Harry sighed with a roll of his eyes, though the effect was ruined by the fond smile on his face.

"Happy Christmas Harry," Sirius said fondly as he gave Harry another hug, this one filled with happiness and contentedness.

Harry smiled even bigger as he watched his godfather leave the room. He sighed tiredly and went over to his trunk, where he uncorked and downed the potions he had been taking for months now to help improve his health. While he had told Sirius of his abuse, he had neglected to inform him that there was lingering damage as he did not want to worry the already strained man. Vanishing the empty containers, Harry quietly changed into his Egyptian cotton pajamas, stroked Hedwig's feathers for a few minutes, and then slipped under the covers of his oh so soft bed and slipped slowly into sleep.

_One would think,_ Harry grumbled to himself as he stepped out of the floo the next morning into the receiving room at Malfoy Manor and dusted soot off his robes. _That _someone_ would have figured out how to make that mode of transportation less filthy. I mean honestly, we've got magic for crying out loud! There's got to be a spell to at least reduce the amount of soot in the floo network._

"Mr. Potter." A familiar voice called. Harry looked up to see all three Malfoy's there, politely waiting for him to gather himself from his trip through the floo. "Welcome to Malfoy Manor." Lucius' voice caused a chill to run up and down Harry's spine and he viciously squashed the memories that popped up.

"It is a pleasure to be here Mr. Malfoy," Harry said with a polite smile, the perfect picture of Slytherin aloofness, just like Lucius. "I trust you and your family have had a lovely Christmas. Happy Boxing Day to you all."

"And to you Mr. Potter," Narcissa said as she stepped forward and extended her hand. "I am Narcissa, Draco's mother. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"And you," Harry said, surprising Narcissa by taking her hand and pressing a chaste kiss to her knuckles. "Though I must say, Draco's stories do not do you justice. Then again, they are from the stand point of a son to a mother. They do not see beauty in their mother's in quite the same way as someone else." Harry actually liked Narcissa since she had always attempted to slip him healing potions whenever he was captured and had even aided in his escapes a few times.

"If I did not know any better Mr. Potter, I'd say you were attempting to flatter my wife." Lucius drawled, a slight edge to his voice. Narcissa made to silence him but Harry beat her to the punch.

"And why wouldn't I?" Harry questioned with a slight smirk on his face. "It is the proper thing to do when one encounters such a lovely and gorgeous woman." Lucius realized he was backed into a corner. He could not refute Harry's statement without insulting his wife, something he would sooner do than stick his genitals in a muggle blender.

"Oh I don't think I've ever met someone that's been able to silence my husband so effectively." Narcissa commented with a smile on her face as she stared at Harry with an appreciative look. "Draco darling, why don't you show Mr. Potter here to the guest room he'll be staying in for the next few days before your father has a fit."

"I do not have fits." Harry heard Lucius hiss under his breath as he followed Draco from the room.

"I should have a hat made for you that says 'I'm a very strange boy' written on it." Draco remarked as he led the way up stairs to the second floor of the manor where there guest rooms were located. "That way I don't have to constantly keep repeating myself. Not one of my other friends would have dared to do what you just did."

"That's because they're afraid of your father." Harry said as if it explained everything, which it did. "He's built up such a reputation over the years that people who cross him usually end up on the streets."

"So what? You're not afraid of him or something?" Draco asked, coming to the only logical conclusion that Harry's statement could lead him to.

"Nope." Harry answered almost cheerfully as he re-sized his trunk and laid it at the foot of the bed. "I'm pretty much safe from your father's manipulations so I've no need to fear retaliation from him, not that I'm going to deliberately provoke him of course. But that doesn't mean I can't bandy words with him and kick his ass." Draco looked at Harry as if he had grown a second head.

"And how exactly are you 'safe' from my father's manipulations?" Draco inquired, an odd edge to his voice and strange look on his face that Harry could not quite place. "You may be the Boy-Who-Lived," he mocked the title, making Harry snicker instead of scowl. "But that does not mean he cannot make your life a living hell and ruin your life."

"True and he would likely have a fairly easy time of it since I was sorted into Slytherin, something people seem to have an issue with," Harry said as he made his way out of the room, leading the way towards the parlor. "But what your dad does not know just yet is that I have plenty of stuff on him to keep him quiet and any dirt on me is... well let's just say that he would have to look very, very hard. Not to mention your mother loves me already."

"There is that... how did you...?" Draco trailed off in surprise when he realized that Harry had flawlessly taken them to the parlor where his parents were sitting having a cup of tea. Harry just smiled innocently and walked further into the room, drawing the gazes of the two elder Malfoy's.

"Mr. Potter, Draco," Narcissa said with a beaming smile. "I trust you found your rooms satisfactory?"

"Harry, please Mrs. Malfoy. I insist that you call me Harry. Mr. Potter is just far too formal." Harry said with a charming smile as he sat down in a chair and accepted a cup of tea. "And the room is simply wonderful, borderline overwhelming. I don't think I've ever seen so large a room that was just a bedroom. Draco? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to join us?"

"Oh, uh," Draco said, taken off guard as everyone turned to stare at him as he stood in the doorway, still flabbergasted as to how Harry seemed to know his way around the Manor even though this was _supposed _to be his first time visiting. "Of course."

"We were all surprised to hear you had been sorted into Slytherin House Mr. Potter," Lucius drawled as Draco sat down in the only chair left and poured himself a cup of tea. "I think the entire wizarding world expected you to go to the lion house like your parents."

"I'm happy to disappoint them then," Harry said even as Narcissa hissed at her husband in disapproval. "In my opinion most of the Wizarding World is quite loony. Especially that rag the _Daily Prophet. _Half of that rag is nothing more than a glorified gossip column. Particularly that Skeeter woman. She loves nothing more than to ruin people's lives when all they've done is disagree with her."

"Yes, I agree." Lucius said, causing Harry to quirk an eyebrow at the man in mild surprise. "I fear you may not have to worry about her for much longer though."

"Oh?" Harry said, turning his full attention to the taller blond as he took another sip of his delicious tea. "And why's that?" There was something in his voice that the others picked up on and caused their interest to lock onto him.

"I have heard rumors that the _Daily Prophet_ is about to be bought out by some anonymous buyer with deep pockets and who is quite displeased with her articles of late." Lucius said, eying Harry closely and evaluating every little movement that the boy made, from the lift of his cup to the odd gleam in the child's eye. "This buyer is buying up stock in the _Prophet_ faster than anyone can register and is close to holding complete controlling stock in the paper. I'd say she should be out of a job in a few weeks."

"Oh so _that's _why her articles have tamed recently." Harry said in an attempt at innocence but did not quite achieve what he was after due to the smile that was threatening to split his face. "I thought she just couldn't find such disparaging stories anymore. Shame really. I'm sure she will be sorely missed."

"Harry." Draco questioned as he leaned forward in his seat. "Do you know who's buying out the _Prophet_?"

"No," Harry said in all honesty and a completely straight face. It was true. He did not _know_ who was buying the _Prophet_. _He_ wasbuying the _Prophet_. "To be frank I thought it was impossible for anyone to reign in that woman's quill. Then again, I guess if you threaten someone's source of income, no matter who they are, they will be a little more compliant."

"Unless they are particularly stubborn." Lucius said, still staring at Harry suspiciously.

Harry conceded the point with a nod of his head before turning the conversation towards a different avenue. He knew that none of them really believed that he knew nothing about whomever was buying out the paper. They believed that he at least knew who it was but did not press the issue. After tea, Narcissa and Draco took Harry on a tour of the Manor, which was mostly unnecessary since Harry had 'toured' the house more than once when he was dragged around for 'sessions' but he indulged them regardless. Besides, it was nice to see the Manor in a much more pleasant setting than he had previously been there.

When the tour was done, Narcissa excused herself and left Harry and Draco to do whatever they pleased as she had some things to tend to. Given the amount of snow that was covering the Manor grounds, Harry suggested they make snowman, something he had never really had a chance to do without quitting halfway through because he was freezing because he did not have proper clothing. Draco stared blankly at him, having absolutely no idea what Harry was talking about and Harry had to wonder just what kind of childhood Draco had had if he did not know what a snowman was.

So, in an effort to have some fun and broaden the blond's experiences, Harry ordered him to go change into something thick and warm and meet him by the front door. Dressing in his own thick and spelled warm cloak, Harry dragged a slightly resisting Draco out into the grounds where he began educating the other boy on how to make a snow man. Draco thought he was completely daft when Harry had finished his snowman, consisting of a large snowball for the base, a medium one for the torso, and a smaller one for the head. It had two sticks for arms that split off at the end to make it look like he had fingers. Two buttons formed the eyes, a carrot for the nose, and some rocks formed a smile on the seemingly innocent face. A scarf Harry really did not care for was wrapped around the 'neck' of the snowman.

"It looks nothing like a man!" Draco protested as he gestured animatedly at the strange construct before him.

"Haven't I told you that you take things far too literally?" Harry said, rolling his eyes dramatically at the other boy. "He's not supposed to actually be a man. It's just the name."

"Well regardless, this is ridiculous. I'm going back inside." Draco said in a huff and turned to go back inside.

A whoosh was the only warning Draco had before he went sprawling face first into the snow when something wet smacked into the back of his head. With a groan, Draco rolled over and picked himself up before he looked up at Harry. What he saw surprised him. Harry was leaning up against the snowman with a devious smirk on his face. The snowman was now animated and was tossing another snowball up into the air, holding a second one in its other hand. The look on the snowman's face was very nearly frightening, in an 'I'm going to pummel you with snowballs' kind of way.

"Perhaps, you should have made your own." Harry said as he revealed his own snowball.

"Harry Potter, that is not fair!" Draco said, his voice laced with nervousness.

"I never claimed to be fair." Harry said as he straightened up, his smirk delving into a full on smile. "I was sorted into Slytherin after all. We don't play fair."

Without warning, Harry flung his snowball at Draco, hitting him square in the chest and causing the air in his lungs to rush out, though not painfully. Draco managed to doge the snowballs that came from Harry's snowman and he quickly turned tail and ran for cover. Unknown to the two outside, both were being watched by a pair of gray eyes from a window on the third floor of the Manor. Lucius was in his study and had been watching since he felt the wards tell him that the boys had left the house. He was curious about Potter in more ways than one. Severus had told him a few tidbits of information he had learned about the boy, though out of respect for the boy's privacy he had not said much. But the blond could not help but agree with Severus' assessment that something was off with Potter. The look in his eyes was most notable. It was as if there was an age weary man behind those eyes instead of a young, vibrant new wizard that was just making his way into the world.

"He is strange is he not?" Narcissa questioned as she came up to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist. "What is that?"

"I've no idea but it was the boy who animated it," Lucius answered, knowing Narcissa was referring to the strange construction of snowballs that was currently pelting her son with projectiles. "He is not only strange he is very advanced in his magic and seems wholly unconcerned with his use of underage magic. It is as if he knows the Ministry will not call him on it or something."

"Yes that is rather odd." Narcissa said as she watched Harry and whatever it was he had made chase her son around the grounds until Draco had surrendered and ran full pelt towards the house. "The magically advance part coincides with what Severus has told us in his letters. He suspects the boy felled a troll with third year spells but with enough power behind them that if the troll was not magic resistant they would have ripped right through its flesh."

"Severus must be exaggerating that point," Lucius said as he turned from the window when Harry canceled his spells on the snow creature and followed Draco into the house. "I sense no more than an average power level from the boy, which explains absolutely nothing and merely raises more questions. He survived a direct Killing Curse from the Dark Lord. His levels should at least be above average."

"I agree," Narcissa said as she moved towards the door while Lucius went towards his desk since he had work to do. "Perhaps if we simply watch a little more closely, some answers will come to light."

Lucius made a noncommittal sound as Narcissa left. He did not disagree with her, he simply had his doubts. Something told him that Potter could keep his secrets in an impenetrable vault if he so chose and no one could glean any answers unless he gave permission for them to do so. With one last look out the window at the empty, snow covered grounds, Lucius set about writing a few letters to see if he could not discover who had beaten him to the _Daily Prophet_.

–Scene Break–

Later that night, at exactly midnight when the entire house was sound asleep, a pair of emerald eyes snapped open with alarming clarity. Harry laid there, listening with both magical and physical senses, mentally batting away the sleeping spell that attempted to work its way into his body. The entire house had mild sleeping charms on the bedrooms so that the guests could get some deep, restful sleep (and not go snooping Harry suspected). It was a nice thought, but those who knew how, could easily resist such spells. Knowing Occlumency helped a great deal, though that was only part of it.

Satisfied that the entire house was indeed sound asleep, Harry rolled over to the edge of the bed and sat up. He slipped on his slippers and house coat, both of which had strong muffling charms on them and a few minor notice me not spells. Moving silently towards the door, Harry pulled out his wand and started muttering under his breath. White lines appeared in the wake of Harry's wand as he started drawing a complex series of symbols in the air right in front of the door. It was a nifty spell, though not entirely practical as it took a fair amount of time to complete, leaving you vulnerable to attack or discovery. It was developed by the very same group of assassins that had created the Unbreakable Vow, only they usually used it to gain access to the heavily warded rooms of the targets.

"Aperire." Harry whispered, the Latin word for open.

The symbols Harry had drawn, which was actually one large diagram, glowed faintly before widening and creating a hole in the air. It was a portal, essentially moving aside stone, wood, metal, and spell work and opening up a path to the area beyond the blockage without tripping a single ward that was in place. Smiling, Harry stepped through and started down the hallway towards the deeper recesses of Malfoy Manor. Occasionally he would pause and whisper a spell or two to determine where exactly in the Manor the Horcrux diary was, though Harry had a fairly good idea of where it was.

As expected, Harry eventually came to stand at a dead end, or what appeared to be a dead end anyways. He could sense the five dozen or so wards that converged on the place, keeping it secret and safe from anyone who was not Malfoy in decent. There was blood magic worked into the wards as well, which made things a trifle bit trickier. The portal spell he had used to get out of his room would not work well with blood magic (he had learned that the hard way) so he would have to use different tactics. Switching over to his magical sight, Harry started studying the wards that guarded the room that stood hidden at the end of the hall. They had not alerted anyone to his presence yet, thankfully. He had stopped a good ways away to ensure just that. But they knew he was there, he could feel and see the wards all watching him.

Harry stood there for what felt like hours (which it was, though only two) before he ended up smirking viciously. All the wards had been designed to keep out anything that was not related to the Malfoy family, of direct decent, and the Lord Malfoy. Everything except, air. Things like air or mist was not considered dangerous or an intruder, so the wards completely ignored them. Harry pointed his wand at himself and said, "Factus sum, fumus." Instantly he dematerialized and became nothing more than an insubstantial vapor, just like when he had bypassed the chess set to gain access to the stone.

Willing himself forward, Harry passed through the wards without a hitch and slipped through the crack at the bottom of the door between the floor and the door. The room beyond was relatively simple or would have been if it were not for a few factors. There were dozens of artifacts all throughout the room that held some very obvious and strong connection to the Malfoy family. Some appeared to be no more than magical heirlooms that were passed down throughout the ages while others appeared to be highly valued treasures they had hoarded. There _appeared_ to be no sign of the diary anywhere in sight but Harry knew better. He could sense it nearby like he could always sense the Horcruxes, not to mention his spells had not led him astray.

Re-materializing, careful not to trip the wards, Harry moved forward and further into the room. Following the urges of his spell, Harry moved deeper into the room until he came to a bookshelf with a dozen, rather dark looking books sitting almost innocently on the shelves. One of them stood out more than the others as it was small in comparison and had no letters on the spine to show a title. Recognizing the diary, Harry checked for wards surrounding the bookcase before plucking the revolting thing off the shelf. Turning back into a cloud of smoke, Harry left the room, surreptitiously tripping the warning wards that alerted the Lord Malfoy that someone was approaching the room.

Harry hovered outside the doorway as a cloud of smoke, waiting for Lucius to arrive. He did not have to wait long. Within minutes of him tripping the wards, Lucius came rushing down the hall in a regal manner that looked more imposing than rushed. He was dressed in his pajamas and nothing else. He came up short when he saw that the hallway was empty.

"You chose your allegiances poorly with Voldemort Lucius." Harry said, re-materializing behind the blond. His voice caused Lucius to nearly hit the ceiling, not to mention the Dark Lord's name probably had something to do with that as well. Lucius turned with his wand at the ready to see Harry standing there, barely noticeable because of his spells, and with the Horcrux in the palm of his hand. It was actually floating ever so slightly above his skin in a time suspension ward that kept it from putting up a fight. "Should he rise again, I seriously hope you think twice about returning to grovel at his feet."

"I do not grovel," Lucius snarled as he put away his wand. "How did you get past the wards?" He made to snatch the diary out of Harry's hand only to get his hand caught in the time flux. Symbols of clocks and hourglasses came to life, trapping the blond's hand just above the diary. Harry chuckled nastily.

"My secrets are my own Lucius." Harry said as the blond kept trying to jerk his hand back to his side. "Yours however, are not so well hidden. From me at least. Tell me Lucius, how many muggle men and women did you rape during the Dark Lord's first reign?" Lucius froze in his attempts to free his hand. He stared at Harry in unfettered surprise. No one, not even the Dark Lord, knew that he had done such things. Like any good Slytherin, and Malfoy to boot, he had hidden his tracks entirely. "Did their convulsions from the Cruciatus you held them under as you fucked them heighten your pleasure?" The blood drained from Lucius' face. "Tread carefully." Harry said before pulling the diary away, freeing the now limp hand and disappearing into the shadows of the hallway.

Lucius stood there in a stated of unprecedented shock. Never, in all his years, had he ever been so stunned by another human being before. He could not understand how the boy had not only got past the ancient and highly complex wards of the room to steal the book his former lord had given him but to know what he had done during the war was impossible. Anyone who knew of his actions were those he had attacked and he always, without fail, killed them all when he was finished. So how had the boy, a child of no more than eleven, known what he had done.

_No._ Lucius corrected himself with a slight shudder as he moved away from the hidden room. _This is not a boy I am dealing with. For whatever reason, Harry Potter is a man, a warrior even. I must treat him as such. From what I've seen of him so far, I've no desire to have this boy as an enemy._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe save for my OC's

**A/N: **Sorry for the long update. Very busy month. If you're curious as to how my other stories are doing don't worry. I will hopefully have a chapter posted soon on all the ones that need it, including TFR and Revenge

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CHAPTER FOUR

Harry sat on the windowsill in his room at Malfoy Manor reading a thick book with a lot of obscure information in it. It was one he remembered reading from before this whole strange, time traveling trip he was on, though he could not remember all of the exact information. Hence his rereading. He was still trying to finish that potion so he could test it out and see if it would safely destroy a Horcrux but he was stuck and could not risk adding another ingredient unless he wanted to blow himself half to hell along with all of Britain. An exaggeration of course but it was his point nonetheless. This book had a lot of long forgotten pieces of information on potions and potion making.

"Harry?" Draco called from the other side of the door with a small knock.

"Come in." Harry called, not taking his eyes off the book in his hands, looking for anything that might help.

"Why on earth are you reading at ten in the morning?" Draco questioned as he came into the room and saw Harry sitting on the windowsill near his bed. "And why didn't you come down for breakfast?"

There was a long pause as Harry continued to read before answering. "I uh... book." was his only response, clearly too absorbed in the book to form any sort of proper response.

"Harry." Draco called, not the least bit pleased that he was being ignored by his best friend. The blond scowled when all he got was a grunt in response. "Harry." He called again, a little louder. Again, all he received was a grunt from the brunette. Draco made to take the book right from the other boy's fingers only to find that Harry had an iron grip on the book and he could not take it. "Harry!" Draco snapped as he changed tactics and slammed the book shut with a snap, catching Harry's thumb in between the pages.

"Ow!" Harry snapped as he yanked his thumb out of the book and shook his hand in pain. He glared half halfheartedly up at Draco as he took the book and set it aside as he was clearly not going to be getting any more reading done at the moment. "Why did you do that? I was obviously reading."

"And ignoring me and the rest of the world entirely." Draco countered, doing his best not to be unsettled by the potency of Harry's glare. He did not like it when the boy glared at him. "It's New Year's Eve, ten in the morning, you've missed breakfast, and your godfather is downstairs harassing my godfather."

"Severus is here?" Harry asked in shock as he paused in the middle of putting on an actual shirt instead of his pajama shirt.

"Yes," Draco answered at length, confused at how Harry had latched onto that specific piece of information over everything else Draco had told him. There was also the fact that Harry had used Severus' first name, something the blond had never heard him do before.

"Good," Harry said enthusiastically as he finished changing and rushed from the room. "Just what I need. A Potions Master."

"Why, pray tell, do you need a Potions Master?" Draco questioned as he followed the fast paced first year from the room.

"To get help with a potion of course," Harry said as if it should have been obvious, which, frankly, it sort of was. "What else would I need a Potion Master's help for? Astronomy?"

Further conversation was halted as they reached the sitting room and heard voices coming from within. Severus' sharp edged drawl could be heard slicing insults left and right, his ire quite obviously inflamed. Sirius replied with the heated retorts that most Gryffindor's were famous for. Harry rounded the corner of the room with a roll of his eyes before properly taking in the situation. Sirius looked like he was greatly restraining himself even as he bit out a response to Severus' remarks. Severus remained his usual composed self, though Harry saw the twitch of his hand that indicated he was getting ready to resort to hexes. Lucius stood off in a corner looking frazzled and annoyed. Narcissa was elsewhere, not wanting to be anywhere near the two enemies when they first entered each other's presence in over a decade.

"Enough." Harry ordered authoritatively as Severus was about to respond to Sirius' latest remark. His voice had dropped about three octaves, making him sound like the adult he really was instead of the child he looked like. To the surprise of everyone in the room, especially the two blonds, the two rivals snapped their mouths shut and took a few, reflexive steps away from each other. "There are times when I wonder who the child truly is when I see adults bickering and fighting like three year olds and the children behaving as mature and experienced individuals." Sirius flushed and looked down at his feet while Severus fidgeted but continued to appear calm and indifferent to everything. "We talked about this Sirius."

"I know, I know," Sirius sighed, some irritation creeping into his voice. "I tried, I did. He just knows how to get under my skin."

"Severus." The clipped name coming from Harry's mouth in a dangerous tone had the Potion Master's mouth snapping shut on the comment he had been about to make. Severus looked at Harry in annoyance and confusion, not knowing how a boy half his age was making him feel like an unruly child caught by their parent. "Both of you will have to get along if for no other reason than Sirius is my guardian and Severus being my head of house. You are bound to interact at some point or another. If you cannot find a way to remain in the same room with each other on your own I can assure you that I know several methods to keep the peace." Much to the curiosity of those not in the know, Sirius actually paled.

"He's right." Sirius said after a minor staring contest with the irate first year. "We're both going to have to get along. We've both done and said things we should not have, me more so than you over the years. I-I apologize."

You could hear everyone breathing in and out as they stared at Sirius in shock and waiting for Severus' response. None of them, not even Harry, had expected such things to come from Sirius mouth. Everyone waited for Severus' response on baited breath. Severus appeared as if he was merely going to sneer at Sirius and decline the apology and outstretched hand but when the man caught sight of Harry's glare he obviously swallowed his initial response. Haltingly, Severus extended his hand, gripped Sirius' and gave it a brief shake before dropping it as if it was red hot and painful to the touch.

"Good," Harry said with a huff, his face relaxing into a normal expression. "Now, Professor, if you have a moment I have a potions question for you." Not really giving the man a choice in the matter, he walked up and took a scroll out of his pocket and handed it over to Severus. "I've been doing a lot of theorizing in my spare time. If you were brewing a potion with these ingredients in this manner, how would you proceed?"

"If I find that you have been attempting this devil's brew, I will be tossing your fingers into the lake for the squid." Severus said darkly, his eyebrows in his hair in surprise at the list of ingredients on the parchment and the process in which they had been mixed. "This concoction defies several, if not all of the basics laws of potion making. By all reasoning, the brew would have blown up in your face dramatically when you added the Erumpent Horn shavings and most certainly would have destroyed an entire structure when you added the Exploding Fluid."

"If I was attempting such a foolish endeavor I would be dead by your own calculations." Harry lied, looking the man straight in the eye, giving nothing away. "This is merely a theory. Assuming that the potion has not exploded and killed its maker and that you've got to the last stage of adding powdered unicorn horn to further calm the brew, how would you proceed?"

"Well," Severus said, giving Harry a calculating look before returning his attention to the paper with the potion on it. "The unicorn horn would not be enough to calm the potion down to a safer level. Rose oil and rose petals would be advisable. Their calming effects would bring the potion back to a state that is not volatile. However, I fail to see the point in such a brew. From its ingredients the only thing I can surmise is that it would be used to completely eradicate something from existence. Exactly why would you be thinking up such a thing?"

"I was simply curious." Harry answered as he plucked the parchment back from the Potions Master. "I've never seen a potion containing all these ingredients so I merely got to wondering."

"Mr. Potter, I will express this once and only once." Severus said, stepping forward to tower over Harry, intending to intimidate but succeeding only in emphasizing their size difference as Harry merely smirked. "If I find out that you have attempted to brew with any of these ingredients without my direct supervision, I will use you as potion ingredients."

"Well, I would hate to waste your time brewing worthless potions Professor." Harry said, a microscopic smirk on his face. "Now, it is New Year's Eve. I say we enjoy ourselves."

"I second that!" Sirius said enthusiastically as he dug around in his pocket and pulled something out. "I brought some things to celebrate with. A few Black Family traditions that I thought Cissy would like. Surprisingly, New Year's celebrations were one of the few things with my family I actually enjoyed."

"I will go fetch my wife." Lucius said, speaking for the first time since Harry had entered the room. He paused on his way out of the room and looked at Sirius over his shoulder. "I expect my house to remain intact Black or it will not be retaliation from Severus that you should fear."

With that Lucius walked from the room. Black smirked but otherwise did not appear mischievous, though Harry vowed to keep an eye on the man all the same. He was not a Marauder for no reason after all. Harry would not put it past Sirius to put in a few minor pranks just to have a bit of fun. He had talked with Sirius at length one day about some of his so called pranks and the man had confided that during his tenure in Azkaban he had reflected on some of his more nastier pranks and come to realize that he really should not have done them and actually regretted most of them now. It heartened Harry to know this and saddened him at the same time over how it had come to pass for the man to realize that.

Harry mentally sighed as he went over to Sirius' side and examined the contents that he was pulling out of the bag. A few candles, some magical fireworks, and a few other miscellaneous items that Harry did not recognize but could easily identify the magic in them and all were amicable and non-prank magic.

"Sirius," Harry said quietly, placing his hand on the man's elbow to further gain his attention.

"Yes?" Sirius said, looking down at Harry in curiosity.

"Have you been to Grimauld place since your release?" Harry asked quietly, drawing the other man off to the side to speak privately.

"No." Sirius said a slight frown crossing his face. "That place does not hold many happy memories for me. I've been avoiding it really, until I was ready to go there and deal with it."

"I understand but there is something there that I need." Harry said, his face and voice conveying his sympathy towards his godfather's plight but also the importance of the situation. "There's a... you know what there. I had not dared to go there before now because I did not know exactly what wards would be up at..." His voice dropped even lower, to the point where Sirius could barely hear it. "At this point in time. I knew what wards were up and active the first time around but now that you've been reinstated as Lord Black, I do not know what changes have taken effect."

"That was probably wise of you." Sirius said with a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture that Harry thought only he did. "My family was obsessed with blood. If you were not of blood relation then you were not welcome unless you were very dark and very powerful and even then they were reluctant to allow someone outside the family in their home."

"Do you think that at some point before I go back to Hogwarts that we could go to the house?" Harry asked with a slightly hesitant look on his face that was mixed with pleading and understanding. "I know exactly what I'm looking for. We could be in and out in less than ten minutes."

"Why don't you just tell me what it is? I can go get it right now for you." Sirius offered, trying his best to help.

"Sirius," Harry said sadly, bring up his hands to cup the animagus' face. "I love that you want to help and appreciate the offer but these Horcruxes are beyond dangerous. If anyone but Voldemort had created these things I would gladly accept your assistance." He held up a hand to quiet Sirius response before he continued. "The soul fragment contained within can leave and possess those around it. I mean no offense to you Sirius but the damage on your mind left by the dementors leave you vulnerable. I can see the holes trying to repair themselves and I've been attempting to help as much as I can without causing more damage but if you go after that Horcrux alone it would be tantamount to handing yourself over on a silver platter, hogtied and with an apple in your mouth." In spite of himself, Sirius snickered at the image Harry had presented.

"Alright," Sirius said, sobering almost immediately. "I understand. Perhaps the day after tomorrow? On our way back to London?"

"Sounds perfect." Harry said with a smile, grateful that Sirius understood things.

"Mr. Potter." Severus interrupted before they could say anything more. "I almost forgot. The Headmaster wished me to give this letter to you. He is rather displeased over what happened."

"I imagine he would be." Sirius said, not bothering to hide his mirth at the memory of Harry turning Dumbledore into that strange bird. Harry had explained that little incident the day after he had returned to London and while Sirius had been shocked, he quickly grew angry when Harry explained a few pieces of information that he had learned after the old man had died in his time.

Harry made a face of annoyance but made to take the letter all the same. He froze, however, when the spell lining his hand, something he kept up all the time out of habit, told him of the spell lining the paper. Groaning in annoyance Harry made to switch over to his magical sight to identify the spell work on the letter and pull out his wand to cancel whatever it was. He paused though when a thought came to him. Smiling internally, Harry turned his gaze up to the man waiting impatiently.

"Sir, have you examined this letter for any nefarious magic? Such as transportation spells?" Harry questioned almost innocently. Sirius, who had moved across the room to greet Narcissa (or Cissy as he insisted on calling her) overheard and looked to him to see if he wanted any of his help. Harry shook his head ever so slightly and turned his gaze back to Severus.

"It is a letter from the Headmaster Potter." Severus replied in an annoyed tone making a gesture for Harry to take the letter from him. "He would not put such spells on a simple letter without prior consent or knowledge to the recipient."

"You mean like he would not try to dose a first year student with a binding potion?" Harry inquired, the same innocent look on his face as he continued to stare at Severus, only there was an undertone of mischievous amusement to his look now. "Like he did at the start of the holidays when I was having an early dinner with my friend and her parents and Sirius?"

Severus scowled, easily connecting the dots that Harry was laying out before him. The incident he spoke of directly coincided with when the Headmaster was transfigured and easily offered an explanation as to _why_ exactly he had been transfigured, though it did not explain why Potter had not been pinned for underage magic. Pulling out his own wand, Severus directed a few simple, diagnostic spells at the letter in his hand. His eyebrows rose in surprise when they came back, telling him that he was, in fact, holding a portkey designed to activate at the touch of a specific person, namely Potter. A little more digging into the spell work and Severus discovered that the destination of the portkey was one of the abandoned, though still functional, prison cells in the dungeons. Those cells were designed to contain even the most powerful and resourceful of wizards and witches since Hogwarts had been built during a time of war.

"It appears," Severus said as he canceled the portkey spell and opened the letter, finding nothing inside. "That I have greatly misjudged that man."

"Many people have Professor." Harry said, patting the man on the arm and walked over to where Draco was impatiently waiting for him to finish talking with their elders.

–Scene Break–

"Please dad!" Draco veritably begged Lucius two days later when Harry was packed and ready to go back to London, Sirius standing at his side by the fireplace in the receiving room. "It's only for a few days until classes resume." The look on Draco's face was one of his most potent puppy dog looks, one that had worked wonders in the past when the blond wanted something from his father.

"Draco," Lucius said, gearing up to refuse his son and deal with the tantrum he would likely throw. He glanced up briefly, locking eyes with Harry, though no one really noticed. Harry shrugged, indicating his indifference to whether or not Draco came over to stay at his place until school resumed. Lucius sighed and decided at the last minute to cave to his son's request. He was going to refuse because he did not wish to upset the obviously powerful boy but if he was alright with it then he would spare himself the trouble of one of his son's tantrums. "If your mother agrees and Mr. Black and Potter do not object then you may go."

"Yes!" Draco crowed in delight as he dashed from the room to find his mother, who had not been feeling well that morning and so had not come to see Harry and Sirius off, though she sent her regards all the same. Presumably he was also going to pack his things with the assistance of the house elves.

"I trust he will be safe?" Lucius questioned respectfully, surprising Sirius by directing the question to Harry instead of himself. As far as Sirius knew, Lucius thought Harry nothing more than a boy, someone beneath his attention.

"Our place is properly warded," Harry assured with a nod, unfolding his arms and stepping away from the wall by the fireplace. "Sirius and I have an errand that we were going to run when we left. If it is agreeable to you, we can pick Draco up at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. That should give us plenty of time to run our errand and him plenty of time to pack his things properly so he does not forget anything."

"You do not have a floo address?" Lucius inquired curiously with a raised eyebrow.

"Unfortunately not." Harry said with a frown and an annoyed look. "I've sent a request to the Ministry to have them set one up since my place does not have an actual fireplace but they have refused on the account that I am only eleven and cannot request such a thing. I had forgotten about it until recently so did not get a chance to discuss it with Sirius here."

"I'll send in a request later today," Sirius said with a small smirk playing on his lips. "The Ministry is probably so terrified that I'll sue them for wrongful imprisonment that they'll readily approve and even send someone out tomorrow."

"Very well," Lucius said with a nod of acceptance. "I'll see Draco to the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. Good day Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. I hope you enjoyed your stay."

"Good day Mr. Malfoy." Harry said, as he led Sirius back over to the fireplace and waited for the slightly stunned man to pick up some floo powder and take them to Grimauld place.

The floo trip was relatively short, though there was a moment just before the end where they seemed to slow down, as if they were going through sludge. Harry felt as if something was evaluating him and he suspected that it was the wards that guarded Grimauld Place. They at first appeared to be displeased by his presence but because he was with Sirius, the current Lord Black and the one in charge of the wards, they allowed him entry.

"I did not think it was possible," Sirius said once they had exited the fireplace in the parlor. "But this place is actually creepier than I remember."

"I'm not surprised." Harry said as he moved forward, wand in hand. They had come out of the fireplace in the kitchen, the lowest level of the house. "Several dark creatures have taken up residence in the house since its abandonment and Kreature is too mad to be of any assistance in disposing of them. I advise you to be at least civil, if not nice to the elf. You two have more in common than you realize and it would be better if he was on our side than against us."

"He's just an elf." Sirius protest, not particularly pleased with the idea of being nice to someone from his past who had not exactly been nice to him.

"Need I remind you of just who exactly played a part in the trap that ended in your death?" Harry asked, looking over his shoulder at the man. Seeing his point had been made, Harry turned towards the exit. "Come on. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. Preferably without getting into a scuffle with one of the creatures that live here now."

Sirius didn't complain. He wanted out of here sooner rather than later as well. He followed Harry up the stairs to the main floor and then to the second floor. All around him he could feel the whisper of wild magic, the magic of creatures. The kind of magic that dark creatures exuded. It brought to mind the presence of dementors and Sirius was hard pressed to suppress a shudder as thoughts of Azkaban filled his mind. Suddenly the oppressing aura was pushed away as a wave of pure, neutral magic filled the immediate area. Sirius looked around to find himself on his knees with no recollection of how he had got there. He looked up to see Harry standing over him, holding out his hand.

"That's the Horcrux." Harry said in way of explanation as he hoisted Sirius to his feet with surprising strength. "That's why I did not want you to come alone. It senses your vulnerability and wants to take advantage. It can use you to bring Voldemort back to life by draining your magic and your life."

"I'm glad I listened then." Sirius said as he adjusted his grip on his wand. "Perhaps I should make an appointment with a mind healer. See if they can help mend the damage so I don't have to worry about such a reaction."

"Even a healthy person would have to worry." Harry cautioned, though he applauded the man's initiative to go see a healer. "Horcruxes, especially these, are powerful and manipulative. They'll do what they can to seek a way into a person's mind to control them. Even a person as skilled in Occlumency as Severus is would have issues resisting. Their influence is subtle at first but can hit you like a freight train if they've found a weakness."

"How are you not effected then?" Sirius questioned as Harry led them to the drawing room. It was then that Sirius realized that Harry was the source of the neutral magic that filled the area, pushing back the influence of the Horcrux. "And for that matter, how are you shielding us?"

"I spent a lot of time around these things when we were hunting them." Harry explained as he waved his wand and conjured three floating balls of flame to light up the drawing room, pushing back the shadows and a few creatures alike. "The more time I spent around them the more effectively I learned to shield my mind from their influence. As for the shield, it is a spell I learned during the war. It pushes back any magical influence as long as it is in place." Harry paused as he used the tip of his wand to open the glass cabinet in the room. "There are two methods of using it. One is to simply cast the spell, tying it to you. That method, however, consistently puts a drain on your magic, making you weaker by the minute. The second, the one I'm using, is to tie the spell to an object, imbuing the object with a small portion of your own magic in order to support the spell. It gets a bit complicated this way but it's much more effective when you're in the middle of battle."

"You and I are going to have to sit down at some point and you are going to have to teach me all these tricks you've learned." Sirius remarked as Harry reached into the cabinet and lifted a necklace with the tip of his wand.

"I just might do that." Harry said as he gazed at the locket, seemingly memorized, before he snapped his fingers of his left hand and held his hand out, palm up. He placed the locket above his hand and let it slip off his wand. Instead of falling and touching Harry's skin, as Sirius had expected, the locket hung suspended in the air. "Some of the things I know could come in very handy for you, especially if things turn nasty, as I suspect they might." Without warning, Harry wrapped his free hand around Sirius wrist and Apparated them out of the house and to Privet Drive so he could store the Horcrux.

"Why do you suspect that?" Sirius questioned as he looked around the room in curiosity. He had no idea where they were and all he saw when he looked outside was a rather plain and uniform muggle street.

"I failed once Sirius." Harry said solemnly. He conjured a box and laid the necklace inside, placing several wards that Sirius did not recognize on the box to keep the Horcrux contained and safe. "I could fail again. If I do, we'll be at war once more. I have a minimum of three years to find and destroy all the Horcruxes and to prepare for war if I can't."

"Have you considered asking for help?" Sirius asked in a voice that said he thought Harry might be acting stubborn or missing something obvious.

"Who would believe an eleven year old child that said Lord Voldemort was not dead and on the verge of returning?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow as he turned around and moved back to Sirius side preparing to Apparate them once more. "Besides, what do you think you are? Chopped liver?" Sirius' response was caught in his throat as he went through the squeezing sensation of Apparating. They reappeared in Harry's apartment. "Now, off you go. I'm going to set up a room for Draco and then pick him up."

"And what exactly do you expect me to do?" Sirius questioned, slightly offended at the dismissal Harry had delivered him.

"Go to St. Mungo's and make that appointment with the mind healers like you said you were going to do." Harry said as he went over to a wall in his flat that had the bookshelves on it and pulled out his wand. He pulled the bookcase out of its slot between two other bookcases and levitated it until it sat on top of another. A sticking charm ensured that it stayed in place and would not topple over. A few spells later had a doorway sitting where the shelf had been and a room beyond, fully furnished. "You did actually intend to go through with that right?"

"Yes," Sirius defended himself against the look Harry was giving him. "Just wasn't expecting to do it so quickly."

"Well the sooner you get it done, the sooner you won't have to worry about it anymore." Harry said with a shrug as he moved to leave the apartment, standing in the doorway waiting for Sirius to follow. "Not to mention the sooner you'll be healed."

"Fair enough," Sirius said as he followed Harry and left the apartment and entered muggle London.

Harry and Sirius split up a few streets down from the apartment building, Sirius heading off to St. Mungo's and Harry making for the Leaky Cauldron. He had a while to wait as it had only taken him and Sirius ten minutes to retrieve and hide the Horcrux and then another ten for Harry to set up a room for Draco so he had the better part of forty minutes left to wait on the hour he said for Lucius and Draco to meet him, minus the ten or so minutes it took for him to get to the Leaky Cauldron. Most of the patrons at the Leaky Cauldron were used to his presence from the previous summer so no one bothered him when he came in and sat down at one of the tables, ordering a Butterbeer from Tom. A few people looked at him in recognition but those that dared to do so were fended off by the more regular patrons that had suffered his glares when they got it in their heads to try and approach him.

A few minutes into his wait, Harry got bored. He pulled out a thick leather journal and a quill, along with a folded up muggle map of the greater Britain area. Harry laid the map out on the table and opened up the book. It was a transcribing of his previous work with locating and destroying the Horcruxes. It listed all the places he, Hermione, and Ron had located a Horcrux and how. It also listed everything Dumbledore had told, or rather showed, him about Voldemort's past. The only Horcruxes that Harry had not found personally in the past time line was the ring that Dumbledore destroyed in his office. It was the one Horcrux that Harry had no idea of its location and the one that he knew not to touch with his bare hands because of what happened to Dumbledore's hand.

Looking down at the map, Harry pulled out a pen and put an x through Wiltshire and then two through London. As far as he was aware there were no more Horcruxes in London since he had never found any more there than the Locket and Helga's cup. That left four more to find. He nearly smacked himself for not getting the Diadem sooner as he had been able to retrieve it for almost four months since it resided in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. Harry was not sure if Nagini was a Horcrux at this point in time so he put a question mark next to her name in his book. That left two to find. The ring and whatever one he had missed that caused the war to rage on the way it had before he died. It was that last one that he was concerned about. Neither he nor Hermione had been able to discover what the last Horcrux was and it was because of that one that Harry feared he would fail again.

_Why does no one just give me a straight answer? _Harry thought bitterly as he poured over his transcripts, looking for anything he might have missed that would lead to the last and most elusive Horcrux. He had Dumbledore in mind when he thought that thought. The man had not once given him a straight answer and it was because of him that they had not been able to act sooner than they did. He had the diary for two years before Voldemort had been resurrected for crying out loud and it took him four to finally figure out what was going on and take action._ It never ceases to amaze me, the stupidity of people who think they're being cleaver. _With a huff, Harry started putting everything away. Just in time too.

"You honestly just couldn't wait could you?" Draco's voice sounded as the blond boy sauntered up to his side and peered at what Harry was doing.

"I had an errand to run Draco," Harry said calmly as he folded the map and put it away. "It could not wait and I figured you could use the time to pack properly so you did not forget anything. Don't. Touch." He added as Draco made to poke through his journal. He snatched it up and put it in his pocket. "Not unless you want your mind melted."

"You would seriously do that?" Draco asked aghast and slightly mocking.

"No but the wards on it will at least make it so you can no longer communicate." Harry said seriously before he downed the last of his Butterbeer and left a few galleons on the table. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes," Draco said, patting his pocket. "Father shrunk my trunk for me. So how are we getting to your place?"

"Walking." Harry said simply before turning to Lucius. "You have my word that he will make it to Hogwarts in perfect condition. Have a good day Mr. Malfoy."

"You as well Mr. Potter." Lucius said and watched as Harry and Draco left the Leaky Cauldron together.

"Please tell me we're not going to be living with _muggles_." Draco asked, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to run back to the Leaky Cauldron and have his father take him home. The boy looked entirely out of his element and Harry had to wonder if the boy had ever been in the muggle world at this point in his life.

"No, we're not going to be living with muggles Draco," Harry said with some amusement showing in his voice. "I live in a high rise apartment just a few blocks from here. Have you had lunch yet?"

"No, not yet." Draco answered, relief evident in his voice. "I figured I would be eating with you."

"Brilliant!" Harry said, making a sudden turn down a street. "I'm starving and don't want to wait until we get home."

"Why didn't we just eat at the Cauldron?" Draco asked in confusion as Harry ushered him into the same little bistro that he had dinner with the Grangers.

"Because the food here is better." Harry said as Giselle showed them to a table and gave them menus. To Draco the plastic covered list of food and drinks was completely and utterly foreign and he spent several seconds turning the thing left and right, examining it in fascination.

Harry snickered in amusement before he turned his attention to his own menu. The blond could be highly amusing at times and Harry swore the other boy was nothing more than a child at heart, despite his hard, mature exterior. Yanking his thoughts away from dangerous territory, Harry focused on what he wanted to have for lunch since he was not in the mood for what he usually got when he came to the bistro. When he looked up from deciding what he wanted and saw Draco still messing around with the menu, Harry chuckled and plucked the thing from the blonds grasp.

"Hey!" Draco protested in annoyance. "I was looking at that."

"You were supposed to be deciding what you wanted to eat." Harry admonished with a raised eyebrow, though the amusement in his eyes diminished his reprimanding tone. A smirk grew on Harry's face when Draco turned sheepish and he handed the menu back to the blond.

Harry smiled slightly as he watched the blond across from him actually look over the menu for food. _This _was what he was trying to preserve. The ability to go into a restaurant and have a meal with friends and family without the fear of a Death Eater attack, without the threat of someone following you, or of someone spying and trying to kill you was something he deemed worth protecting. He did not know how he had returned to the past but he was glad to have the second chance and he just hoped that he did not screw it up.

When Draco had finally decided what he wanted and put the menu down, Harry wrenched his thoughts back to the present and looked away from Draco before the blond could notice. Thankfully, Giselle chose that moment to pop up to take their orders so Harry's movements appeared completely natural. Giselle teased Harry for a few minutes about breaking pattern and getting something other than what he usually did when he came in. Harry played back with a smirk before she took Draco's orders and left them with a small appetizer, compliments of the house for Harry's semi-consistent and generous patronage.

Draco and Harry filled their time with idle chatter, Draco asking a few seemingly innocent questions, ranging from muggles in general to Harry's past. Harry, while he answered the questions, was not fooled. He could tell that Draco was subtly looking for a few answers to Harry's odd behavior, most notably how Harry had subdued the Lord Malfoy who was feared by all. Draco had not noticed at first but a few days into Harry's stay at the manor the blond had noticed that while his father was putting on a good show, Lucius appeared wary of Harry. That in of itself was cause for concern. If Lucius Malfoy of all people had reason to fear a mere boy then there was quite obviously something going on. Harry never gave anything away though, keeping his answers as they would be if he really was a highly mature eleven year old first year student at Hogwarts.

"You actually live here?" Draco questioned as they entered Harry's flat. Having never been in a muggle apartment before he was surprised at how open yet constricted the place was. He could tell, as could everyone who entered the place that magic had been worked on the kitchen.

"Yup," Harry said with a little pep. He pointed over to one of the doors in the apartment. "That door leads to Sirius' rooms." As if that had been some sort of cue a knocking sound echoed through the apartment. Harry frowned as he looked towards the door he had just indicated. "Yours is between the two bookshelves. Go ahead and put your stuff in there. I'm going to go answer that." Draco made to ask a question but Harry was already through the door. The blond huffed and went to put his stuff away. Harry cut through Sirius' room and up to the door. Not bothering to check through the peephole to see who had knocked, Harry opened the door. "Remus!" he cried in delight, a smile splitting his face when he saw the werewolf standing on the other side of the door.

"Harry?" Remus said in surprise as the dark haired youth stepped forward to give him a strong hug. The wolf had obviously not been expecting to encounter Harry here, though why when Harry had sent him that letter explaining things was a mystery to them both.

"It's been almost two weeks Remus!" Harry said as he stepped back and ushered the still stunned wolf into the apartment. "Why didn't you respond to my letter?"

"I-I-" Remus stuttered, still absorbing that Harry had greeted him instead of Sirius, not to mention that Harry was here in muggle London instead of with his muggle relatives where he had last seen him when Dumbledore had denied him custody of the young boy. "I didn't know it was you who had sent me that letter and your owl did not stick around."

"Yes, I needed her to come back so I could continue with some business letters," Harry explained as he dragged Remus through Sirius' apartment and into his flat and sat him down at the bar. "But honestly, how many people do you know with my initials? Sirius had the same issue and I don't get it, then again given that you don't know, it could be quite understandable to think that I did not send you a letter."

"Harry?" Draco's voice called as the blond came out of his room to see Harry behind the bar messing with bottles and Remus, a stranger to him, sitting at the bar looking like he had been struck in the stomach.

"Oh," Harry said, his hand movements never pausing in their making of a drink. "Draco, this is Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Draco Malfoy. Come and sit Draco. Do you want a drink or treat? I've got ice cream; I could make you a root beer float if you want one."

"A what?" Draco asked, nonplused at both the situation and the foreign treat.

"Oh. My. God." Harry said dropping what he was doing and going straight over the fridge and pulled out his ice cream and a bottle of root beer. A quick trip to the cupboard had a tall glass in his hands. "I know you're a pureblood but I cannot believe you have never had a root beer float before. Honestly! Some things should just be universal!"

"Harry." Remus said, trying to get some sort of control over the situation and the mental roller coaster he was riding. He never got a chance to continue speaking as someone else entered the apartment.

"Moony!" Sirius' call was so high that all three of the other people to wince and rub their ears. The ex con practically flew across the room and latched onto Remus in a powerful hug.

"Perfect timing Sirius." Harry said with a smile on his face. He wrapped up the drink for Remus he was making and pulled out a case of Firewhiskey and set it on the counter. "Remus was just about to start asking questions. I'm sure you both have a lot of catching up to do and I have no desire to explain myself twice."

"Why do I have to do all the hard work?" Sirius protested with a disgruntled look on his face as he released Remus.

"Because I'm letting you use my stock of booze and I have company to entertain." Harry said pointedly with a raised eyebrow. Sirius pouted but took the alcohol and gestured for a still stunned Remus to follow him back into his apartment. The wolf paused briefly, looking between Harry and Sirius, before following Sirius from the room. "Now you!" Harry said, turning on Draco, who leaned back warily. "Eat. You won't regret it." He said with a smile as he pushed forward the odd looking (to Draco anyways) treat.

Harry smiled as Draco took a hesitant spoonful of the floating ice cream, frowning in thought as the strange tastes exploded in his mouth. The blond's eyes widened in surprise and he looked down at the float in shock. A chuckle escaped his lips when Draco started digging into the treat with relish. Harry was just about to start making himself a root beer float when Hedwig glided into the room through one of the enchanted windows that were charmed to vanish and then reappear whenever Hedwig approached. She hooted a greeting at him at him as she landed on his shoulder and nibbled his ear in affection. Harry smiled and gave her some of the owl treats he had nearby before untying the letter on her leg.

"What is it?" Draco asked when he looked up from his float and saw the pleased yet vicious smile on Harry's face and the letter in his hand.

"A confirmation of my purchase of the last stock in _The Daily Prophet_." Harry said with a grin on his face, the grin turning into a full on smile when Draco choked on the sip of root beer he had taken.

"You-you-you-" Draco stammered as he tried to regain control over his breathing.

"I now own that deplorable paper and can turn it into a respectable news distribution system." Harry said, not repenting in the slightest when Draco sent him a glare for making him choke. "Not to mention I can finally put a leash on that nasty quill of Rita Skeeter."

"You told my father that you didn't know who was buying out the paper!" Draco accused when he could breathe once again.

"I don't," Harry said as he filed the letter away in a filing cabinet. "That's because I was buying it out. There's a difference between _knowing_ someone and _being _the one who is doing something."

"Why you sneaky Slytherin!" Draco crowed as he stared in shock at Harry.

"You were expecting me to be a Gryffindor?" Harry queried with a raised eyebrow as he sat down on the couch in the living room and sighed in relaxation.

"Well, no." Draco said as he came to join Harry on the couch. "But that's just down right devious. I don't think that even my father would have been _that_ technical about the meaning behind what someone says."

"He should," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. He leaned forward and pulled a video game controller, an oddly shaped piece of plastic with a bunch of buttons on it to Draco, and turned to the blond. "Want to learn how to play?" The look he received from Draco was enough to send Harry into a fit of laughter.


End file.
